KY: Pointing man was an anonymous tipster

Man on the street pointing was like an anonymous tipster. Garcia v. Commonwealth, 2010 Ky. App. LEXIS 116 (June 25, 2010)*:

Although the pointing man in this case is similar to the two pointing individuals in the Kelly case [Commonwealth v. Kelly, 180 S.W.3d 474 (Ky. 2005)], there is nothing in the record that reflects that Officer May reasonably believed that he had face-to-face contact with the actual tipster. In fact, the only testimony Officer May gave with respect to this issue was that he saw a man in a van pointing to the Appellants’ vehicle and that he did not have a conversation with the pointing man. Additionally, the trial judge made the following finding at the suppression hearing: “We have no way of knowing if the person in the van was the anonymous caller. An argument could be made that maybe they [sic] were. But just as likely, maybe it wasn’t.” Further, unlike the tipsters in Kelly who identified their place of employment, the tipster in this case did not provide any identifying information. Accordingly, the tip at issue in this appeal was not from an identifiable citizen informant.

Red rejection sticker for state vehicle inspection was reasonable suspicion for a stop. Commonwealth v. Rivas, 77 Mass. App. Ct. 210, 929 N.E.2d 328 (2010).*