Opinion ID: 390190
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Fourth Amendment Implications of Our Decision

Text: 80 We need no reminder of the Court's profound responsibilities to uphold Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable seizures. Nonetheless, where there is a verified, though anonymous, detailed tip about narcotics trafficking, we do not find inherently unreasonable an intrusion consisting of a demand to step out of a car, enforced ultimately through leveling the officer's gun against recalcitrant subjects who not only do not respond but make suspicious movements inside the car. No search of a person or car was conducted here before probable cause had been established by the observed presence of narcotics; the only bodily contact up to that point was the officer's physical escort of Nicky to the front of the car. The police officers made a reasonable attempt to investigate a detailed, credible tip about a serious crime that would at most have involved temporary inconvenience to the occupants of a parked car, had they been entirely innocent. 53 These are the facts of the case; 54 other fact situations may produce different results. The judgment is 81 Affirmed.