MD: Tasering suspect in back effected an arrest but without PC

Tasering defendant in the back on reasonable suspicion converted the stop into an arrest requiring probable cause, which there wasn’t. The search of defendant’s person was suppressed. Reid v. State, 428 Md. 289, 51 A.3d 597 (2012):

Application of the principles from Terry and in the de facto arrest cases leads us, with respect to the circumstances in the present case, to determine that a person shot in the back with two metal darts, as was Reid, would reasonably believe that he or she was not free to leave the encounter, especially when, as the trial judge found, a medical technician would have to have removed the prongs. These circumstances are very similar to those in Bailey, Grier, and Dixon, in that Reid was subjected to the custody and control of the officer detaining him by the use of physical force. While we recognize that the suspects in Bailey, Grier, and Dixon were not believed to be armed and that Reid was, such belief does not convert a de facto arrest to a Terry stop found in In re David S. and Lee, because the levels of intrusion and control involved in Reid’s detention are unquestionably greater than those used to detain either Lee or David S. The use of a Taser in dart mode penetrates the body for an indefinite time period, differentiating it from a “hard take down,” the use of handcuffs, and tackling.9 A reasonable person would not feel free, nor even be able, to go under these circumstances: Reid was, thus, arrested.