Click on the case titles to link to the full case decision.
Terry v. Ohio, 392 US 1(1968)-An officer can briefly detain a person, based upon reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, long enough to dispel the suspicion or to allow it to rise to the level of probable cause for an arrest. The officer is also permitted to do a limited "frisk" search of the person without a warrant. Before the officer can frisk search the subject, he must:
Have articulable facts that the person could be armed with a weapon.
Limit the search to pat searching the outer garments of the suspect to feel for objects that might be weapons.
Only reach inside the clothing after feeling such objects.
Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143 (1972)-A known reliable informant's information that the driver in a vehicle is carrying a gun is sufficient to stop and frisk the driver.
US v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U. S. 873 (1975)-Reasonable suspicion of criminal activity warrants a temporary seizure for the purpose of questioning limited to the purpose of the stop.
Brown v. Texas, 443 US 47, (1979)-Texas had a statute making it a criminal act for a person to refuse to give his name and address to an officer upon his request. The application of the Texas statute to detain appellant and require him to identify himself violated the Fourth Amendment because the officers lacked any reasonable suspicion to believe that appellant was engaged or had engaged in criminal conduct. Detaining appellant to require him to identify himself constituted a seizure of his person subject to the requirement of the Fourth Amendment that the seizure be "reasonable."
US v. Mendenhall, 446 US 544 (1980)-The court provided the following examples to demonstrate when a person is "seized" for Fourth Amendment purposes, but not actually secured by the officer:
The threatening presence of several officers.
The display of a weapon by an officer.
Some physical touching of the person of the citizen.
The use of language or tone of voice indicating that compliance with the officer's request might be compelled.
Florida v. Royer, 460 US 491(1983)-An investigative detention must be conducted in a manner that is no more intrusive than necessary to establish or dispel the officer's suspicions.
Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032 (1983)-An officer may conduct a Terry type search of a vehicle's interior if there is reasonable suspicion that there is a weapon readily accessible in it.
Florida v. Rodriguez, 469 U.S. 1 (1984)-When the police contacted Rodriguez in an airport and asked him to step over to another public area to talk. It was a consensual encounter and, therefore, was not a "seizure."
Florida v. Bostick, 501 US 429 (1991)-The standard for determining a "seizure" is not if a person feels free to leave, but whether the person feels free to decline the requests of the officer.
Gallegos v. City of Colorado Springs (1997)(10th Cir. Court)-A police officer can take precautionary measures to restrain a person during a "Terry" stop. In this case, the officer had reasonable suspicion to detain Gallegos. Gallegos refused to stop for the officer. The officer grabbed him. He pulled away and kept walking. This occurred a couple of times until Gallegos turned and took a fighting stance. Gallegos was taken to the ground with an arm bar.
Florida v. J.L., 529 US 266 (2000)-An anonymous tip that a person is carrying a concealed weapon is not in and of itself enough to stop and frisk the person.
Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 US 119 (2000)-The unprovoked flight of a person, upon seeing the police, in a high crime area, gives the officer reasonable suspicion to chase and detain him.
Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial Dist. Court of Nevada, 000 U.S. 03-5554 (2004)-A police officer can require a person to identify himself/herself if the officer has reasonable suspicion that the person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime.
Arizona V. Johnson, 000 US 07–1122 (2009)(.pdf)-A vehicle was lawfully stopped on traffic for a violation. During the course of the traffic stop, one of the officers on the scene talked to the passenger, Johnson. The encounter was consensual and was not related to any criminal matter. The officer developed reasonable suspicion that Johnson may be armed and pat searched him. A gun was found and he was arrested. The Court determined that an officer’s inquiries into matters unrelated to the justification for the traffic stop do not convert the encounter into something other than a lawful seizure, so long as the inquiries do not measurably extend the stop’s duration. In a traffic-stop setting, the first Terry condition—a lawful investigatory stop—is met whenever it is lawful for police to detain an automobile and its occupants pending inquiry into a vehicular violation. The police need not have, in addition, cause to believe any occupant of the vehicle is involved in criminal activity. To justify a pat down of the driver or a passenger during a traffic stop, however, just as in the case of a pedestrian reasonably suspected of criminal activity, the police must harbor reasonable suspicion that the person subjected to the frisk is armed and dangerous.