Opinion ID: 1566468
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: A. Motion to Suppress the Seized Items

Text: ¶ 8. McClellan moved to exclude the items seized in the search of his vehicle, but the motion was overruled. The trial judge held that the stop of McClellan's vehicle was valid and that it was made with sufficient probable cause for an investigatory stop. McClellan claims that the officers lacked reasonable suspicion to make an investigatory stop because the initial description of the suspect vehicle by police dispatch was vague. ¶ 9. A police officer may conduct an investigatory stop if he or she has reasonable suspicion, grounded in specific and articulable facts, that a person [the officer encounters] was involved in or is wanted in connection with a completed felony . . . or `some objective manifestation that the person stopped is, or is about to be engaged in criminal activity.' Williamson v. State, 876 So.2d 353, 355 (Miss.2004) (quoting Floyd v. State, 500 So.2d 989, 992 (Miss.1986)). Reasonable suspicion may be based on the officer's personal observations or an informant's tip, as long as the tip bears an indicium of reliability. Id. (citing Floyd v. City of Crystal Springs, 749 So.2d 110, 118 (Miss. 1999)). In Williamson, police received information from pharmacy employees that two white males had purchased large quantities of pseudoephedrine from two different stores. Id. at 354. One of the tipsters told police that the two white men had left the store in a white van, and he gave police the license plate number and the direction in which he had seen the van traveling. Id. A police officer located the van and followed it to a Fred's Dollar Store, where he obtained consent to search the vehicle. Id. In the Williamson case, this Court concluded that the information provided by the pharmacy employee, the color of the van, the number and race of the occupants, the license plate number and the direction of travel, including the name of the street, provided a sufficient basis for the officer's reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle. Id. at 356. ¶ 10. While in this case the initial description may have been somewhat vague, police were able to accumulate many more details about the individuals, their pseudoephedrine purchases, and the vehicle in which they were traveling before officers made the investigatory stop. Agent Hawkins investigated at both Fred's Dollar Store and Dollar General Store soon after the suspects had driven away from each. Hawkins relayed to Officer Pevey the information he had obtained, and Pevey subsequently made the investigatory stop after reasoning that he had enough information, or probable cause, to do so. Thus, the trial court did not err in denying McClellan's motion to suppress the fruits of the vehicle search.