Court Opinion

ID: 9682408
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 08:10:57.071363+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:39.154928
License: Public Domain

Tom Glaze, Judge, concurring. I concur. In Foster v. State, 278 Ark. 473, 646 S.W.2d 699 (1983), our Supreme Court upheld the stop and arrest of defendant when the policemen took no action until after they observed, in plain view, the contents of the trunk of defendant’s car. Like in Foster, in this cause, the officers had, as required under Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.1, a reasonable suspicion that appellants were committing, had committed, or were about to commit a felony. The officers did not, however, have reason to suspect that appellants were armed and dangerous — a circumstance that would have permitted a limited search for weapons. See Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.4. The search conducted in this cause not only lacked justification, but also far exceeded the bounds laid out in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968), and set forth in Rule 3.4, supra. Further, unlike in Tillman v. State, 275 Ark. 275, 630 S.W.2d 5 (1982), a vehicular search under Arkansas Rule of Criminal Procedure 14.1(a) was not justified in this cause, as the officers had no reasonable cause to believe that the truck contained evidence subject to seizure. There was no report connecting this truck or its occupants to any particular criminal activity. The officers were merely suspicious by virtue of the manner and location in which the truck was traveling, the time of night, and the fact that the passenger was wearing chaps.