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CA5: Stop of wrong guy was still with reasonable suspicion

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Stop of the wrong guy, but objectively likely the right one, was with reasonable suspicion. The fact he was not the person named in the 911 call about a burglar in the neighborhood did not negate reasonable suspicion. The patdown was reasonable in scope. United States v. Vickers, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 17154 (5th Cir. August 12, 2008): In sum, reasonable suspicion existed to believe that Vickers was engaged in a recently completed burglary, which gave the officers the right to stop him. Furthermore, the officers did not exceed the permissible scope of the stop when the officers sought to pat down Vickers. True, the police were incorrect in their initial suspicion that Vickers was involved in the burglary that prompted the police response. That hindsight does not change the Fourth Amendment analysis of whether the stop and frisk of Vickers was reasonable...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 15, 2008 (boomark / email).