Opinion ID: 2351964
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Investigative Detention

Text: An investigative detention occurs when police stop and detain a person to investigate. However, such a detention will rise to the level of an arrest unless the detention is for a relatively brief period of time and there are no coercive conditions present which constitute the functional equivalent of arrest. Commonwealth v. Ellis, supra, 541 Pa. at 292-294, 662 A.2d at 1047 (officer's detention of defendant constituted investigative detention rather than custodial detention where defendant was detained for only ten to fifteen minutes until second officer arrived, where defendant's vehicle matched the description of the vehicle involved in a burglary, where the officer's suspicions were diligently pursued, and where the period of detention was primarily used for the legitimate purpose of issuing a traffic citation). [5] In the matters here, the interaction between appellants and the police did not rise to the level of an investigative detention in that appellants were not detained in any way nor were their physical movements restricted in any manner by police. Clearly, the officers' conduct of mere pursuit of appellants without any intrusion upon their path of flight cannot be deemed to amount to an investigatory stop.