Summary
holding that police hired as security in a private parking lot at night had reasonable suspicion to stop a person walking between cars and concealing an object beneath his shirt
Summary of this case from Matthews v. Harris Cnty.Opinion
No. 08-31066 Summary Calendar.
August 14, 2009.
Catherine M. Maraist, U.S. Attorney's Office Middle District of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, LA, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Richard Mark Upton, Law Office of Richard M. Upton, Baton Rouge, LA, for Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, USDC No. 3:06-CR-215-1.
Before HIGGINBOTHAM, CLEMENT, and SOUTHWICK, Circuit Judges.
Derrick A. Wilson appeals his guilty-plea conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm, arguing that the district court should have suppressed the weapon because his Terry stop was not justified by reasonable suspicion. We review the district court's factual findings for clear error, and the legality of Wilson's investigative stop de novo.
Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).
See United States v. Cantu, 230 F.3d 148, 150 (5th Cir. 2000).
See United States v. Jaquez, 421 F.3d 338, 341 (5th Cir. 2005).
Police officers may detain individuals briefly on the street, absent probable cause for arrest, "as long as they have a reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot." Reasonable suspicion must be based on "specific and articulable facts," and the facts must "be judged against an objective standard." Based on the totality of the circumstances, we hold that the officers' suspicion that criminal activity was afoot was reasonable. The officers, who were hired to secure a private parking lot located in a high-crime area, observed Wilson walking in between the parked cars at night concealing something beneath his shirt. Upon noticing the police, Wilson nervously attempted to evade them. These facts objectively gave the officers reasonable suspicion sufficient to effectuate a constitutional stop.
United States v. Baker, 47 F.3d 691, 693 (5th Cir. 1995).
Id. (quoting Terry, 392 U.S. at 21, 88 S.Ct. 1868) (internal quotation marks omitted).
United States v. Grant, 349 F.3d 192, 197 (5th Cir. 2003).
See Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119, 124, 120 S.Ct. 673, 145 L.Ed.2d 570 (2000); Baker, 47 F.3d at 693.
AFFIRMED.