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CA6: 911 call at 4 am did not state any criminal activity, and defendant's stop was without reasonable suspicion

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officers responded to a 4 a.m. 911 call about a person in the neighborhood, but there was no allegation of criminal activity. When the police showed up, defendant was walking to his car, and he opened the door and threw a bag in the car. He stopped for the officer, and there was no reasonable suspicion for his stop at the time it happened, and the search thereafter was unreasonable. The motion to suppress was erroneously granted. United States v. Johnson, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 18734, 2010 FED App. 0292P (6th Cir. September 8, 2010)*: In sum, the totality of the relevant circumstances consisted of contextual factors that would have applied to anyone in the neighborhood; a 911 call that made no specific allegation of criminal activity, provided no predictive information about the suspects, and at most suggested that someone was doing something suspicious in the area; Johnson’s reasonable failure to comply with commands to stop until he had reached the white car; and the fact that Johnson did not flee or otherwise react suspiciously to the officers’ presence, but rather continued along the precise trajectory he was following when the officers arrived...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 09, 2010 (boomark / email).