E.D.La.: No PC or RS for def’s stop and frisk

Under the totality of circumstances, the officer lacked both probable cause and reasonable suspicion for defendant’s stop. United States v. Muse, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 209817 (E.D. La. Dec. 12, 2018)*:

Even if Officer Kozlowski’s stop of Muse was a detention rather than an arrest, he did not have reasonable suspicion to believe that Muse was engaging in criminal activity. When Officer Kozlowski stopped Muse, he knew only that Muse was a Black man wearing a black shirt in the 2500 block of Dumaine Street, a high-crime neighborhood, and that a Black man in a white shirt may have removed an item from his waistband and placed it into a car in the next block. Even if the person observed by Sergeant Davis could have been stopped, Officer Kozlowski had little or no reason to believe Muse was that person. Muse was dressed differently and was in a different location. He was not “doing anything that looked like it was illegal,” and Officer Kozlowski did not observe a bulge or anything else suggesting Muse was armed. Reasonable suspicion, like probable cause, cannot be generalized to all people, or all people of a particular race and gender, in a given area. Muse has met his burden of proof of showing that Officer Kozlowski did not have reasonable suspicion to stop Muse.