SC: Catching up to def on street and telling him to produce ID was a seizure, here without RS

“Before the agents made contact with Spears, he had walked several hundred feet without the agents engaging him, indicating he was free to continue walking. By increasing their speed to catch up with Spears, the agents indicated to Spears he was no longer free to continue walking away. This is especially true considering that when the agents stopped Spears, they asked for his identification and whether he was engaged in illegal activity. Thus, in light of all the circumstances surrounding this incident, we conclude a reasonable person in Spears’s position would not have felt free to walk away, and Spears was seized within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.” “At the time Spears was seized, the agents had observed Spears and Williams, get off a bus known by the agents to be patronized by criminals, retrieve four large bags, and appear nervous while paying close attention to the agents. This evidence is insufficient to support a conclusion the agents had a ‘particularized and objective basis for suspecting legal wrongdoing.’ Anderson, 415 S.C. at 447, 783 S.E.2d at 54 (quoting Arvizu, 534 U.S. at 273).” State v. Spears, 2017 S.C. App. LEXIS 48 (May 31, 2017).

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