SC: Def’s encounter with police after getting off bus was consensual and led to a valid frisk

Defendant rode a “Chinese bus line,” a bus that runs from NYC’s Chinatown and doesn’t stop at traditional bus stations. The police know that criminals ride this bus to avoid scrutiny. In Charleston, police were waiting and one person with four bags attracted their attention because he was curiously looking at them when all the other passengers were meeting people or calling for pickup. When the officers approached to talk to him, he wasn’t seized. He kept his hands in his pockets, and that concerned the officers. Ultimately there was a frisk that produced crack by plain feel. The stop was consensual when it started, and the frisk was for safety purposes. State v. Spears, 2020 S.C. LEXIS 11 (Feb. 12, 2020), rev’g 420 S.C. 363, 802 S.E.2d 803 (Ct. App. 2017).

Two men touching hands did not provide probable cause to believe they engaged in a hand-to-hand drug transaction. Rolling a cigarette didn’t add to it either. United States v. Miller, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23632 (E.D. N.Y. Feb. 11, 2020).