CA8: On an investigative detention for armed robbery, greater safety measures may be taken by the officer

Defendant’s car was stopped on a radio report of a vehicle matching its description involved in an armed robbery. Because of the nature of the crime under investigation, greater safety measures could be employed against those in the car without turning an investigative detention into an arrest. United States v. Smith, 648 F.3d 654 (8th Cir. 2011):

Applying these principles to this appeal, we agree with the district court that under the totality of the circumstances, the officers’ reasonable suspicion of a connection between Smith and his Cadillac and the bank robbery warranted an investigatory detention. The reasonable safety measures officers took in effecting an inherently dangerous investigative stop in connection with an armed robbery did not transform the encounter with Smith into an arrest. Detective Vogel’s investigation indicated Smith was the owner and primary user of the white Cadillac seen on the surveillance video picking up a man matching the description of the bank robber and driving toward the bank moments before the robbery. A witness placed Smith behind the wheel of the Cadillac a few blocks away from the bank shortly before the robbery occurred.

Plaintiff Pennsylvania State Trooper who was ordered back to work ten months after an injury had a call to his barracks recorded, allegedly without his knowledge, over the return to work order. He had no claim under the Fourth Amendment or Title III, and the district court should have just dismissed the case. Diana v. Oliphant, 441 Fed. Appx. 76 (3d Cir. 2011).*