Opinion ID: 3035323
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Circumstances of the “Traffic Stop”

Text: Officer Boehmer’s testimony makes clear that he suspected that Willis was engaged in, or had engaged in, criminal activity. He testified that his suspicions were first aroused by Willis’s manner of driving between the time of his initial turn from, and subsequent return to, Hoover Avenue. His suspicions were further aroused when Willis parked on Hoover, left his windows rolled down, ran across the street, and banged on the door of an apartment. At that point, Officer Boehmer asked that a check be run on the Colorado license plates of Willis’s car. He also asked for back-up: “Due to the suspicious situation, the known gang, prostitution and drug activity in the area, I just, for officer safety, I wanted another officer there, and the time of night.” While he waited for his back-up to arrive, Officer Boehmer made a U-turn on Hoover and drove a little over half a block away to the west. He parked in an alley that intersected Hoover between Third Street and Casino Center Boulevard. He testified that he had an unobstructed view from the alley to the apartment complex to which Willis had run. Officer Boehmer testified that the license plate check revealed that Willis’s car was listed as a “suspicious vehicle in an earlier event almost a week earlier.” It also revealed “that the vehicle has a missing persons [National Crime and Information Center (“NCIC”)] hit on it.” About a week earlier, the woman who owned the car Willis was driving had been driving with Willis in Las Vegas. They were stopped by Las Vegas police because the car had a missing person listing on the NCIC system. During the stop, Las Vegas police officers learned that the woman was in Las Vegas on her own volition and wanted no assistance. According to Officer Boehmer, the suspicious vehicle report had been entered into the local Las Vegas police department system at about the time of this stop. Las Vegas police contacted the woman’s family and the Escondido, California Police Department (the source of the 16572 UNITED STATES v. WILLIS missing person listing) to tell them what they had learned. The Escondido Police Department requested that the Las Vegas Police Department let them know where the woman was so that she could be removed from the missing persons list. The record does not indicate when or if the Las Vegas Police Department responded to this request. However, none of this was known to Officer Boehmer as he watched from the alley. The only thing he knew was that the car was listed as a “suspicious vehicle” on the local Las Vegas system, and there was an NCIC missing persons “hit” on the car. Officer Miller arrived in a separate police car in response to the back-up request. While Officer Boehmer was describing the situation to Officer Miller, Willis came back out of the apartment. Willis got into his car, made a U-turn on Hoover, and drove less than a block. Still on Hoover, Willis pulled over to the curb of his own accord and parked in front of his own apartment. Officers Boehmer and Miller immediately moved to box in Willis’s car. Officer Boehmer made a U-turn, turned on his overhead lights, and drove up behind Willis’s car. Officer Miller made a U-turn from the other direction, turned on his overhead lights, and drove up to the front of Willis’s car. Officer Boehmer testified that Willis opened his car door as he was in the middle of his U-turn. Then, “as he stepped out [of his car] I was putting my vehicle into park and I observed a black male start looking from side to side rapidly.” Boehmer testified, “I immediately began ordering commands to him to step to the front of my vehicle, and also to take his hands out of his pockets because at the time he had his hands in his jacket pockets. . . . [F]rom my experience again, someone that, you know, immediately opens up their vehicle and jumps out and begins looking from side to side frantically is, in my experience they’ve always taken off running. So before, you know, he had a chance to, I just started giving commands.” Officer Boehmer testified that Willis complied with his commands. After Willis had walked to the front of the police UNITED STATES v. WILLIS 16573 car, Officer Boehmer asked him, “[D]o you have anything on you I should know about?” According to Officer Boehmer, Willis “said he had a gun.” Officer Boehmer says he “then asked him to place his hands behind his back and spread his feet apart[.]” Officer Boehmer testified that Officer Miller “gained [Willis’s] consent” to look in his pockets, where he found a loaded firearm. Officer Boehmer testified that he then gave Willis a Miranda warning and asked him more questions. He testified that he asked a records clerk to run a criminal history check, and that the check revealed that Willis was a convicted felon. Officer Boehmer placed Willis under arrest “[f]or ex-felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed weapon, ex-felon failure to register at that time.” After arresting Willis, Officer Boehmer transported him to the Clark County Detention Center.