MO: Def’s impending search was unreasonable, so his flight didn’t give further justification

Defendant was stopped for not having a front license plate on his car, although it was on the dash. At worst, this was an infraction. When defendant got out of the car, the officer could smell marijuana on him, and defendant attributed that to his girlfriend in the car using a “licensed” vaporizer. When defendant was out of the car, the officer did not smell marijuana in the car. The officer patted defendant down and felt a hard round object behind a knee. Before the officer could search for it, defendant fled. After he was captured, a further search occurred. The court finds that the first effort to search the hard round object was unreasonable because there could be no fear that it was a weapon, and defendant’s flight was based on unconstitutional conduct. Therefore, the motion to suppress should have been granted. State v. Lee, 2016 Mo. App. LEXIS 445 (May 3, 2016).