MA: No RS on totality for stop and frisk of the defendant on a shots fired call

On the totality of information, the motions judge erred in concluding that there was reasonable suspicion for defendant. In fact, his findings undermined the holding. Commonwealth v. Meneus, 476 Mass. 231 (Jan. 11, 2017)*:

The motion judge ruled that police had reasonable suspicion for the seizure based on a combination of factors: (1) the defendant was part of a group of black males matching the description provided to police by the victim; (2) the stop occurred in a “high crime” area; (3) the purpose of the stop was to investigate a report of shots fired, a crime posing an imminent threat to public safety; (4) the defendant and his companions were in close geographical and temporal proximity to the alleged crime at the time of the stop; (5) the defendant fled from the scene; and (6) the officers’ safety justified the patfrisk. We review the judge’s findings as a whole, bearing in mind that “a combination of factors that are each innocent of themselves may, when taken together, amount to the requisite reasonable belief” that a person has, is, or will commit a particular crime. … Assessing the totality of the circumstances leading to the stop of the defendant, we conclude that the facts known to the police at the time of the seizure were not sufficient to establish reasonable suspicion that the defendant was connected to the alleged shooting at the victim’s vehicle.