Court Opinion

ID: 9482106
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:40:26.009401+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:48:46.081955
License: Public Domain

OAKES, Chief Judge,
dissenting:
Contrary to the majority’s assertion, I believe that the anonymous tip in this case was “significantly less specific” and reliable than the tip in White, and thus that the pat down of Salazar was unlawful.
I read White with a somewhat different lens than the majority. Prior to stopping *52the defendant, the police in White fully-corroborated three details of the anonymous tip — a woman’s departure from a certain building, her use of a brown Plymouth station wagon with a broken light, and the time frame of her departure. The police also partially corroborated a fourth detail— the suspect’s travel toward a specific motel. See id. 110 S.Ct. at 2416-17. In addition to these points of corroboration, the tip’s detail concerning facts that were not easily obtainable, such as the make of the suspect’s car, and the informant’s ability to predict the suspect’s future activity, led the Court to conclude that the tip was sufficiently reliable to establish reasonable suspicion and hence make the stop lawful. See id. at 2416-17. In so holding, however, the Court declared that the tip alone would not have justified an investigatory stop. See id. at 2416.
The question before us, then, is, given the fact 'that an anonymous tip alone is insufficient for a finding of reasonable suspicion, and given the Court’s characterization of White as a “close” case, does this case surpass the reasonable suspicion threshold? I believe it does not. In contrast to the rather detailed tip in White, the tip here had only two components — an extremely general physical description of the suspect and a prediction as to the suspect’s future activity. The agents here had fully corroborated only one of the details of the tip prior to making the stop — the physical description of the suspect. This aspect of the tip, however, was vague (“a short dark Hispanic male”) and, given the ethnic composition of the neighborhood, could have encompassed literally thousands of people. The physical description also did not refer to any specific details, such as manner of dress or facial hair, that would have indicated that the informant had a particular individual in mind. Additionally, the agents had only partially corroborated the second aspect of the tip, the suspect’s travel route to and from the apartment before making the stop. They saw Salazar in the apartment, but did not know where he was coming from, or if he planned to leave later for the street. At best, we have one and a half points of corroboration of what was an extremely general tip.
Moreover, it appears that whatever slight reliability the tip may have had was actually undercut by the police’s own activity. Specifically, the agents’ unsuccessful search of the apartment for drug paraphernalia, undertaken prior to making the stop, put the reliability of the tip considerably in doubt. For, the implication of the suspect’s travel to and from the apartment was that the suspect was taking drugs from the apartment and then selling them on the street. The fact that the agents did not recover any drugs, therefore, cast doubt upon the reliability of the tip right away.1
The majority unwisely embraces the Government’s assertion that, in addition to the tip, Salazar’s “visible nervousness” provided reasonable suspicion for the stop finds no support in fact or law. As the majority notes, the test for reasonable suspicion is an objective one. In contrast to the case on which the Government relies, United States v. Ramirez-Cifuentes, 682 F.2d 337 (2d Cir.1982), however, there are no objective facts here to buttress the agents’ characterization of Salazar’s behavior as nervous. In Ramirez-Cifuentes, the agents’ observation of the defendant’s nervous demeanor was based on objectively quantifiable aspects of the defendant’s behavior — constant glancing about, rapidly walking through a narrow walkway, and repeated backward glances. See id. at 342. The portion of the trial transcript quoted by the majority illustrates that such facts are absent here. Looking “around at” the agents who had just identified themselves as law enforcement officers is not in and of itself evidence of a crime. For, under such a thought regime, one could say with equal conviction that a suspect’s failure to make eye-contact with law enforcement officers is evidence of guilt. Eye-movement alone is simply not the stuff from which guilt or innocence is made. We are thus left only with the agents’ subjective judgment of Salazar’s demeanor, which could not possibly have provided objectively reasonable grounds for an investigatory stop.
*53Lastly, the majority’s statement that “a face-to-face informant must, as a general matter, be thought more reliable than an anonymous telephone tipster, for the former runs the greater risk that he may be held accountable if his information prove false,” is, at the very least, misplaced; the agents here did not know the identity of the tipster and there was no indication that the agents ever would have any further contact with him. Whether an anonymous tip is delivered in person or over the telephone wires has little if any impact on the reliability of the tip. Whereas, whether the police will have future dealings with the tipster, and thus whether the tipster has a stake in the veracity of the information, is a true gauge of reliability. We have no evidence that the tipster had such a personal investment in the veracity of the information.
For these reasons, I conclude that neither the detail of the tip itself, nor the quantity or quality of subsequent collaboration, even approximate those present in White. This case in my view does not present a “close” case for an investigatory stop, but rather, no case at all.

. I am not persuaded by the majority’s assertion that the fact that Salazar was not the tenánt of the apartment decreases the chance that the tip was a "hostile fabrication” of the informant.