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GA: Bailing out the back door at an attempted knock-and-talk did not justify detaining the persons fleeing; they had a right to "be let alone" and avoid contact with the police

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officers went to a house for a knock-and-talk, admittedly with no justifiable information about criminal activity. When they knocked, somebody looked out the blinds, and then four people started bailing out the back sliding door. The last one was stopped, and detained, and, in plain view inside, drug paraphernalia could be seen. This view was a violation of the Fourth Amendment because there was no justification for a detention in the first place. Galindo-Eriza v. State, 2010 Ga. App. LEXIS 847 (September 10, 2010): Furthermore, the totality of the circumstances here did not provide the officers with the reasonable articulable suspicion necessary for elevating this first-tier encounter to a second-tier Terry stop. There was no testimony that these occupants of the house were specifically suspected of criminal activity or that the officers even knew who they were...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 13, 2010 (boomark / email).