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DE: Defendant who dropped drugs when he encountered an officer who stepped in front of him was not yet "seized"

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officers had a report a specifically described man was on a particular city block with a quantity of drugs. Officers waited, and, as defendant approached, one with POLICE on a vest stepped from behind a parked van, and defendant immediately dropped the drugs he had in hand when he saw the officer. Defendant was not yet seized when he dropped the drugs. Curtis v. State, 2011 Del. LEXIS 152 (March 9, 2011): In this case, Silvers testified that once Curtis looked in Silvers' direction, Curtis dropped the drugs “within a fraction of a second.” Silvers did not even have the chance to ask to speak to Curtis before Curtis dropped the drugs. In that respect, this case is more straightforward than Ross. If Silvers, in his police vest with his hand on his Taser, had continued to walk towards Curtis and had restricted Curtis's movement or had ordered Curtis to stop, a reasonable person in Curtis's position arguably would have believed he was not free to ignore the police presence...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 12, 2011 (boomark / email).