DC: Unprovoked flight when being asked about possession of a gun was RS

Plainclothes officers in the MPD Gun Recovery Unit saw defendant walk in front of their vehicle. On a here hunch, one called out to him: “Officer Katz testified that he then shined his flashlight on appellant, leaned out of his vehicle window, and ‘loud[ly] shout[ed],’ ‘[H]ey, do you got a gun[?] [D]o you got a gun[?]’ Appellant took a couple of steps and then began to run to the door of the apartment building. As he ran, he was moving his right hand, but he kept the palm of his left hand pressed against his jacket on his left side.” “In this case, we conclude that appellant was seized only when one of the officers grabbed him and the officers took him to the ground. Immediately before that, when the officers pointed their guns at appellant and directed him to stop and get on the ground, he did not comply; even to the extent that he stood still at the apartment door he was trying to open, he ignored the officers’ requests that he get on the ground, and he kept moving his hand around his left side. Thus, our analysis must focus on whether, by the time the officers grabbed and tackled appellant, they had reasonable articulable suspicion that he was armed.” They did. Pridgen v. United States, 2016 D.C. App. LEXIS 91 (April 7, 2016).