Minnesota v. Timothy Dickerson (508 U.S. 366)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 7, 1993 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 508 U.S. 366 · 113 S. Ct. 2130
- Decided
- June 7, 1993
- Term
- October Term 1992
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice White
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice White delivered the opinion of the Court. In this ease, we consider whether the Fourth Amendment permits the seizure of contraband detected through a police officer’s sense of touch during a protective patdown search. I On the evening of November 9,1989, two Minneapolis police officers were patrolling an area on the city’s north side in a marked squad car. At about 8:15 p.m., one of the officers observed respondent leaving a 12-unit apartment building on Morgan Avenue North. The officer, having previously responded to complaints of drug sales in the building’s hallways and having executed several search warrants on the premises, considered the building to be a notorious “crack house.” According to testimony credited by the trial court, respondent began walking toward the police but, upon spotting the squad ear and making eye contact with one of the officers, abruptly halted and began walking in the opposite direction. His suspicion aroused, this officer watched as respondent turned and entered an alley on the other side of the apartment building. Based upon respondent’s seemingly evasive actions and the fact that he had just left a building known for cocaine traffic, the officers decided to stop respondent and investigate further. The officers pulled their squad car into the alley and ordered respondent to stop and submit to a patdown search. The search revealed no…
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