Fourth Amendment; Search & seizure; Motion to suppress; Investigatory stop; Terry stop; Terry v. Ohio; Anonymous tip; Reasonable suspicion; Patdown search; People v Custer; Armed & dangerous; Body-camera footage

The court held that police lacked reasonable suspicion to detain defendant and also lacked reasonable suspicion that he was armed and dangerous sufficient to justify a patdown search. Police responded to an anonymous report that “juvenile,” “mixed males” were waving guns outside on the street. Officers later encountered defendant and another adult Black male who said they had come from that street. During an initially consensual encounter, defendant expressly refused an officer’s request to search him. The officer nevertheless grabbed him, another officer restrained his other hand, and he then disclosed that he had a weapon. Police searched him and recovered a firearm. The trial court denied his suppression motion. On appeal, the court held the officers could approach the men consensually, but the information known before the seizure “did not provide the officers with an objectively reasonable particularized suspicion that defendant was ‘engaged in, or about to be engaged in, criminal activity.’” The anonymous tip described juveniles and did not match defendant and his companion in several respects, and the later discovery of the gun could not retroactively establish reasonable suspicion. The court separately held that the patdown was unjustified, emphasizing that “‘there is no firearm exception to the Terry analysis’” and that “‘a tip alleging an illegal gun by itself is not sufficient to justify a stop and frisk.’” The body-camera footage also contradicted testimony that defendant had his hands in his pockets or was retreating before officers attempted the search. Thus, “there is no evidence that the officers had a reasonable suspicion that defendant was armed or dangerous before they physically restrained him.” Reversed and remanded.