D.Alaska: Stop of “white sedan” 3-4 blocks from shooting within seconds of report was RS; occupants’ description not required

The description of a car involved in a shooting doesn’t need to, and usually can’t, include a description of the occupants. Here, a radio report was put out about a white sedan being involved in a shooting at a particular intersection. An officer 3-4 blocks away was thus able to stop the first white sedan heading away from that intersection within seconds of the broadcast. That was reasonable suspicion. United States v. Welch, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162579 (D. Alaska October 31, 2014):

Here, officers responding to the 4404 San Roberto Drive shooting received reports over the radio that a white sedan was involved in the shooting. Officer Burns, who was driving only three to four blocks from the scene of the shooting, saw Welch’s white Ford Crown Victoria sedan and instituted a felony traffic stop eight minutes after reports of shots fired were broadcast. Given Welch’s close proximity to the shooting within minutes, and the description given by witnesses that a white sedan was involved, Officer Burns’ suspicion that the vehicle was involved in the San Roberto shooting was reasonable. Thomas, 863 F.2d at 626; Flores, 524 P.2d 353 (Cal. 1974). His belief becomes even more reasonable when the totality of events of the morning of June 23, 2012 are taken into account. At the time that the San Roberto shooting was reported over the radio, police were already on the scene of the Anchor Pub shooting. At that location, a witness had told police that the shooter had leaned out of a white-colored older-model, “police-type” vehicle—a description that certainly matches the white Ford Crown Victoria driven by Welch. Given that the Anchor Pub was only approximately four miles from 4404 San Roberto Drive, it was reasonable for law enforcement to infer that Welch’s white sedan may have been involved in both shootings.2 Officer Burns testified that he heard over the radio that a vehicle involved in the Anchor Pub shooting was described by one witness as an “old-style police vehicle, white in color.” (Tr. I at 38).