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MA: Frisk during traffic stop was unjustified

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The stop of defendant’s vehicle was justified by reasonable suspicion but the search of defendant’s bookbag, purse, and cooler bag was not justified by any reasonable suspicion that a weapon was present. Commonwealth v. Greenwood, 2011 Mass. App. LEXIS 60 (January 20, 2011)*: Officer Blicker's hearing testimony established that, throughout the course of the investigative stop, the defendant acted in a cooperative manner. He made no furtive gestures, was not hostile towards the officers and did not attempt to flee. When coupled with the officers' uncertainty regarding the precise nature of the criminal activity afoot, these facts do not give rise to an articulable risk to officer safety. [¶] Officer Blicker admittedly opened the purse in the conscientious exercise of his duties to ascertain the veracity of the defendant's responses to his questioning...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 23, 2011 (boomark / email).