Opinion ID: 6290800
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Suppression Hearing Evidence

Text: At the hearing, Government witness Sergeant Jonathan Aydelott (the officer who conducted the stop), and a witness for the defense (an investigator with the Federal Public Defender’s Office) testified to the following. On June 15, 2019, the Keg County Cowboys, a motorcycle group, held a poker run for charity that included several stops along the run at which volunteers worked. Lesa Lane, an employee at the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) who Aydelott had known for several years through his work as a police officer, was working at the Duck River Market stop. The Duck River Market “stays fairly busy” and is in a rural area. Sergeant Aydelott, an employee of the Hickman County Sheriff’s Office who was working as a road deputy that day, received a phone call from Bobby Dunn, a reserve deputy with the Sheriff’s Office. A reserve deputy is an individual “who would come in and ride with patrol officers” but did not answer calls alone. Aydelott testified that Dunn told him Lane called from the market to report “a suspicious vehicle in the area that had been around for approximately 45 minutes to an hour,” and that Aydelott advised Dunn that Lane needed to call the central dispatch. Aydelott testified that his police report reflects what Dunn told him at the time, and that he wrote the police report the next day after he spoke with Lane. The police report says, “Dunn stated, Lane called him and told him she was at the Duck River Market in Shady Grove when she observed a white male and a [B]lack male in a white Jeep continuously drive around in the area of the market,” but does not specify an amount of time. It further says, “Lane then informed Dunn she observed the [B]lack male passenger remove a long barrel gun from the back seat into the front passenger seat.” -2- No. 21-5297, United States v. Jackson Aydelott was driving toward Duck River Market when dispatch radioed that “they received a complaint or a call about a suspicious vehicle in the area and a couple [of] subjects acting suspicious[ly].” Aydelott testified that dispatch told him there was a “white Jeep with a white driver and [B]lack male passenger circling around the business and going up and down the road with a rifle.” Sergeant Aydelott’s report says only that dispatch advised “they just received a call from Lane stating there was a white male driving a white Jeep with [B]lack male passenger in the area of the market and they had a rifle in the vehicle.”1 Based on what Dunn and dispatch told him, the Sergeant concluded that the individuals in the vehicle were about to rob the market. When Aydelott arrived at the store approximately two minutes later, he saw the Jeep parked to the side of the building and observed a Black male get into the passenger door of a white Jeep with a white male driver. Aydelott stated that he made eye contact with the passenger as he was getting into the Jeep, but did not see a firearm at that time. The Jeep then drove off toward the highway, and Aydelott proceeded to follow the Jeep and turn on his flashing lights. He claims that the Jeep took off “at an elevated” speed, but that it was not “extremely fast.” The Jeep did not stop immediately on the highway, but instead it drove a quarter of a mile, turned onto a dirt road, and eventually stopped, traveling about 10 to 12 miles per hour on the dirt road. Before the Jeep stopped, the passenger jumped out of the front passenger door. Aydelott estimates that the Jeep continued for about 20 to 25 feet before it stopped. He did not pursue the passenger. When Aydelott approached the Jeep, he asked Jackson why he did not stop the vehicle as soon as the police lights were activated. Jackson responded that he did not see the lights until after he turned off the highway, and his passenger, Webster, told him to keep going because he had a gun. 1 Aydelott admitted that he doesn’t recall if he was told that the suspects had been circling the market for 45 minutes. -3- No. 21-5297, United States v. Jackson The court ruled on the motion to suppress from the bench. Although it was a “close case,” the court held that Sergeant Aydelott had “reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot under the totality of the circumstances.”