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OH8: Stop was without RS, and defendant's flight did not add to it

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant’s stop was without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, and his subsequent flight didn’t rise to the level of reasonable suspicion. State v. Coleman, 2009 Ohio 6471, 2009 Ohio App. LEXIS 5411 (8th Dist. December 10, 2009): [*P24] In this case, there is no question that once Coleman took off running, the police had reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. The question here is whether the police had reasonable suspicion to pull Coleman out of his vehicle -- based upon very few articulable facts. We find that based on Detective Lewandowski's testimony, he did not have reasonable suspicion to justify a Terry stop of Coleman. We further find that this is not the "close case" presented in Pettegrew. [*P25] Detective Lewandowski testified that he and his partner received reports from an undercover officer that there was a woman flagging down cars in the vicinity of East 71st Street and Wade Park Avenue, an area of high-drug activity...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on December 12, 2009 (boomark / email).