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DE: Arrest of bystander to drug operation was without factual basis

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant was a bystander to a drug operation, and there was no reasonable suspicion tying him to the operation to justify his detention. Lopez-Vazquez v. State, 2008 Del. LEXIS 391 (August 29, 2008): The observed nervous behavior by an unknown person standing next to and conversing with a known drug suspect gave police a "hunch" that the unknown person might be involved with the target of their investigation. Nothing in the record, however, provides concrete reasons why the remainder of the wholly innocent events that occurred before the seizure (for example, entering into a multi-unit apartment building after Hernandez, spotting Lopez-Vazquez outside of the building--and alone--an hour later by himself) combine into a "suspicious conglomeration" which supports a Terry stop...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 01, 2008 (boomark / email).