The officers said Johnson’s demeanor outed him as a trespasser, and that he initially identified himself as a resident only to then say he was actually visiting his girlfriend, who was a tenant.

During the encounter, Johnson was allegedly moving his hands near his chest, prompting one of the officers to grab his arm and pull his hand behind his back, revealing a loaded handgun in his coat pocket.

Johnson said he had only been trying to get his Ida and moved to suppress the evidence. A judge in the Bronx refused and ultimately convicted him of attempted criminal possession of a weapon and ammunition.

Reversing Tuesday, a divided five-justice panel of the Appellate Division’s First Department said “the police action was impermissible at its inception.”

Police officers may question an individual “where there is an ‘objective, credible reason, not necessarily indicative of criminality,’ to initiate the level one encounter,” the unsigned opinion states.

Johnson’s conduct, however, “did not provide an objective credible reason” for the officers to question him.

The officers said their suspicions were heightened because of a history of crime and drug dealing in the building, but the appellate majority rejected that explanation.

“Presence in a high-crime or drug-prone location, without more, does not furnish an objective credible reason for the police to approach an individual and request information,” they wrote.

“Nor does an individual’s desire to avoid contact with police - even in a high-crime neighborhood,” they added.

Though Johnson’s evasive answers and furtive hand movements would have independently justified the stop and frisk, those events had been the product of an illegal stop.

More: Courthouse News Service