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Flight Provided Justification for Pursuit.

Because the defendant resembled a “mug shot” of a wanted person, the police had the right to approach him to request information. Because the defendant was in an area the wanted person was known to frequent, the police had the common-law right to inquire.  The defendant’s flight provided reasonable suspicion to pursue and stop him.  The defendant’s discarding of a gun during the chase, therefore, was not the result of improper police action.  People vs Barrow, 2011-030059, Ind. No. 1356/09 Second Dept. 2-13-13

DeBour, street stops

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Defendant’s Flight Did Not Justify Police Pursuit.

Flight was not sufficient to justify police pursuit.  A police officer had been shot in the afternoon.  About eight hours after the shooting, uniformed officers approached the defendant as he was walking within a block or two of where the shooting occurred.  The defendant said “What, we can’t go to the store?” turned his back, made a gesture toward his waistband, and ran. The police pursued him and saw him discard a handgun from his pocket as he was being tackled by an officer.  The defendant subsequently pled guilty to criminal possession of a weapon.  The Fourth Department reversed the conviction and vacated the sentence. “Flight alone … is insufficient to justify pursuit because an individual has a right to be let alone and refuse to respond to police inquiry …”.  Because there were no “specific circumstances indicating that the suspect [was] engaged in criminal activity,” there was no “reasonable suspicion” of criminal activity, “the necessary predicate for police pursuit…”.  People v Cady, 1427, KA 12-00337 Fourth Dept. 2-1-13

DeBour, street stops

Flight Elevated Level of Suspicion and Justified Pursuit.

The police received a late-night report that three men had committed a robbery and fled into a park. At the park, the police saw the defendant and two other men.  The defendant’s flight upon seeing the officers, who were in plainclothes and were getting out of an unmarked police car, “elevated the level of suspicion to reasonable suspicion of criminality and justified pursuit.”  People v Pitman, 9092, Ind. 2908/10 First Dept. 1-29-13

DeBour, street stops

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