DWB arrests

[Tom Donohue]

Mike...as a lawyer up here in Massachusetts, this has been an issue before.
With no disrespect to the FSC, I'm happy to see that they can detect a trend
here, as other Supreme Courts before them have.  I am a defense attorney and,
as such, am pretty closely attuned to abuses (real as well as perceived) of
racial profiling from my clients.  I am also a pretty conservative, registered
Republican for virtually all my life, so I think I can pick out real abuses
when they occur...whether in Daytona Beach (yes, most of my father's side of
the family resides there) or in the Berkshires in Western Mass. (where, for
some surprising reason, I reside.)  Regards, Tom

Mike Arman wrote:

> Interesting item in one of the legal papers my wife gets:
>
> Officer stopped three young black males driving a late model car. When
> asked by the court for the reason for the stop, the officer replied (with
> surprising candor - their emphasis!) that he felt given the circumstances,
> i.e., three young black males driving around in a nice, late model car, the
> car was probably stolen, hence he made the traffic stop.
>
> Classic DWB stop.
>
> As it turned out, the car did belong to the driver, and there was no other
> violation - everything was legal.
>
> Florida Supreme Court threw it out on the basis of insufficent cause. They
> held that the situation itself (which resulted in the stop) was not
> indicative of any crime, and no, guys, you can't stop people because of
> that. They have to DO something, not BE something.
>
> As the word on this decision trickles down to some of the more
> "enthusiastic" LEOs (legal-speak for Law Enforcement Officers), we may see
> a decrease in this type of traffic stop.
>
> If you know anyone who has been stopped on a DWB in states other than
> Florida, this might be a useful precedent.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Mike Arman