Everett Miles v. United States

Summary

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals held that police lacked reasonable articulable suspicion to stop Everett Miles based on an anonymous 911 tip reporting a man shooting a gun and Miles's subsequent flight. The court concluded that the tip was insufficiently corroborated because the officers did not independently confirm the presence of a firearm before the stop. It reversed the denial of Miles's motion to suppress tangible evidence.

Holdings

1. The police lacked reasonable articulable suspicion to stop Miles because the anonymous tip was not sufficiently corroborated in its assertion that he possessed or used a gun, and his flight under the circumstances was too equivocal to provide the necessary corroboration.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the anonymous 911 tip was sufficiently corroborated to establish reasonable articulable suspicion that Miles was carrying a gun.
2. Whether Miles's flight after an officer blocked his path and directed him to stop sufficiently corroborated the tip to justify a Terry stop.
3. Whether the trial court erred in denying Miles's motion to suppress the tangible evidence recovered during the stop.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded