IL: Handcuffs may be applied during a Terry encounter without turning it into an arrest

Handcuffs may be applied during a Terry encounter without turning it into an arrest. Here, there was plenty of reasonable suspicion and an uncooperative defendant. People v. Fields, 2014 IL App (1st) 130209, 2014 Ill. App. LEXIS 950 (December 31, 2014):

[*P27] The mere act of handcuffing a person does not transform a Terry stop into an illegal arrest. People v. Colyar, 2013 IL 111835, ¶ 46. Rather, the propriety of handcuffing a person during a Terry stop depends on the circumstances of the case. Id. “It would be paradoxical to give police the authority to detain pursuant to an investigatory stop yet deny them the use of force that may be necessary to effectuate the detention.” People v. Starks, 190 Ill. App. 3d 503, 509 (1989). Legitimate interests in using handcuffs during a Terry stop include protecting law enforcement officers, the public, or the suspect from the undue risk of harm. People v. Arnold, 394 Ill. App. 3d 63, 72 (2009).

[*P28] Here, the record establishes that defendant was shaking, nervous and evasive, gave inconsistent answers to basic questions, and could not establish that he belonged in that building’s stairwell at 2 a.m. where someone had complained to the police that drug dealers had run into that building. Furthermore, defendant would not comply with Officer Mette’s requests to stand up. In order to investigate defendant’s identity, the officers had to move him down three flights of stairs to the patrol car parked outside the building. This would enable the officers to compare defendant’s face to any photograph the police would have connected to defendant’s name. Officer Mette knew that a gang conflict was going on in the building and narcotics arrests had been made there before. After defendant refused to move, Officer Mette informed him that he would handcuff him and find out who he was. Officer Mette then handcuffed defendant and lifted him to his feet. Under the totality of the circumstances, we find that the handcuffing was reasonable in light of the circumstances that developed during the course of the stop. Id. at 71. The use of handcuffs was reasonably necessary for safety under these specific facts and did not transform the Terry stop into an arrest.