So what exactly is “unprovoked flight?” Surprisingly enough, although the definition of “headlong”

Flight hasn't always been such a terrible thing. At one time, courts seemed to recognize that there might be all sorts of reasons for an innocent person to want to distance himself from the presence of a police officer. Not all contacts tremont hotel baltimore with police officers are Norman Rockwell positive, particularly for certain members of our society. And, absent a reasonable suspicion on the part of the police officer tremont hotel baltimore that something untoward may be going on, individuals have just as much right to terminate a "mere encounter" with a police officer on the street as the police officer had to initiate the encounter to begin with.
In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court's decision tremont hotel baltimore in Illinois v. Wardlow put a wrinkle in all of this. Police officers in Wardlow were driving in an area of Chicago known for heavy drug activity when they saw the defendant look in their direction and then run away.  A 5-4 majority tremont hotel baltimore of the Court held that the suspect's "headlong" and "unprovoked flight, combined with presence in a high crime area, provided police with sufficient grounds under the Fourth Amendment to stop him for further investigation.   "Headlong flight," the Court concluded, ". . . is the consummate act of evasion; it is not necessarily tremont hotel baltimore indicative of wrongdoing, but it is certainly suggestive of such."  Moreover, "unprovoked flight is simply not a mere refusal to cooperate.  Flight, by its very nature, is not going about one's business; in fact, it is just the opposite."
Police officers are not idiots, and they know which legal terms they need to throw into their police tremont hotel baltimore reports and testimony to help protect an arrest. tremont hotel baltimore Not surprisingly, just as a hammer tends to see nails wherever it goes, every flight tremont hotel baltimore since Wardlow tremont hotel baltimore has tended to look an awful lot like it was both headlong and unprovoked.  I had some fun the other day with an officer who mentioned my client's "unprovoked flight" in his testimony during a motion to suppress hearing.
So what exactly is "unprovoked flight?"  Surprisingly enough, although the definition of "headlong" received quite a bit of attention after Wardlow , with the government arguing tremont hotel baltimore that anything faster than a stroll satisfied the definition and defense lawyers insisting that the suspect needed to have been running at Olympic speed, a definition of "unprovoked flight" tremont hotel baltimore has proven a bit more elusive.
If "unprovoked flight" is difficult to define, here is my attempt at defining what "provoked flight" is.  Provoked flight is the officer pulling a marked car up to the sidewalk next to the defendant, rolling down the window, and asking what the defendant what he and his companions are up to.  Provoked flight is opening the police cruiser door and getting tremont hotel baltimore out of the car.  Provoked flight is approaching tremont hotel baltimore the suspect on foot.
Contact If you have been charged with a criminal matter in Northern Virginia or the District of Columbia and are looking to a hire a defense attorney, please contact tremont hotel baltimore Jamison Koehler for a free telephone consultation. Mr. Koehler can be reached at 202-549-2374 or jkoehler@koehlerlaw.net. The mailing address tremont hotel baltimore for Koehler Law is 1000 Potomac Street, tremont hotel baltimore NW, Suite 150, Washington, DC 20007. The fax number is 202-315-3939.
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