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IL: Telling defendant who was "window shopping" to remove his hands from his pockets was a seizure

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The officer here approached the defendant who was "window shopping" and told him three times to remove his hands from his pockets, and, when he did, a gun fell to the ground. The defendant was commanded to comply, so it was a seizure under Mendenhall. People v. Jackson, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 204 (March 30, 2009).* "[T]he narrow question before this court is whether a police officer, who has reasonable suspicion to believe that an individual was involved in a shooting that has just occurred, may conduct a limited protective search of the passenger compartment of a vehicle that the officer has just seen the individual get out of. We find that under those circumstances, consistent with Terry and Illinois law, a limited protective search of the passenger compartment of the vehicle for weapons is proper...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on April 16, 2009 (boomark / email).