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CA6: Reaching to small of back on seeing police in a high crime area was reasonable suspicion

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

On getting out of a car in a high crime area, defendant saw the police, hunched over, and reached to the small of his back. The officer could reasonably conclude he was reaching to check on a weapon or drugs and not just putting his wallet away. United States v. Pearce, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 14187, 2008 FED App. 0240P (6th Cir. July 3, 2008): Officer Johnson reasonably suspected that "Johnson had a weapon and was getting ready to fire." J.A. at 75-76. Indeed, even from a layman's perspective, Johnson's behavior, while susceptible of an innocent explanation--Johnson may have simply been trying to put his wallet away--might also have been reasonably viewed as an attempt to conceal a weapon and/or other contraband material, such as narcotics, from a police officer who had just appeared on the scene...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 08, 2008 (boomark / email).