W.D.Mo.: A reasonable but mistaken belief defendant’s car was just involved in a burglary justified its stop

A reasonable but mistaken belief defendant’s car was just involved in a burglary justified its stop. United States v. Morgan, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 208715 (W.D. Mo. Oct. 31, 2018), adopted, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 207735 (W.D. Mo. Dec. 10, 2018):

The Court finds that Sergeant Jones had a reasonable, although mistaken, suspicion that the occupants of the white Mustang convertible who she pulled over had just been involved in a residential burglary given Sergeant Jones’ interpretation of the announcement made by Officer Mahoney, the description of the vehicle provided by dispatch (which Sergeant Jones only heard over the radio as opposed to being able to read and double check on a computer), and the temporal and geographic proximity of the vehicle to the residence where Sergeant Jones believed the burglary had taken place. Thus, the Court finds that Sergeant Jones was justified in conducting an investigative stop. See United States v. Vinson, 805 F.3d 1150, 1152 (8th Cir. 2015) (officer had reasonable suspicion to stop vehicle where vehicle matched description given by dispatch of suspect’s vehicle and close temporal and physical proximity of vehicle to reported crime); United States v. Roberts, 787 F.3d 1204, 1209-10 (8th Cir. 2015) (same).