Commonwealth v. Cost

Summary

This is a concurring opinion by Justice Wecht, joined by Justice Donohue, in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania's decision in Commonwealth v. Cost. The opinion addresses when a police-citizen interaction becomes an investigative detention under the Fourth Amendment, focusing on the retention of identification and the conduct of a background or warrant check. The concurrence argues that, under the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person would not feel free to leave in such circumstances.

Holdings

1. The combined circumstances of taking a person's identification, retaining it, and running a background check establish an investigative detention because a reasonable person would not feel free to leave without the identification and would understand that the police were conducting an investigation.
2. Questioning a person whether he possesses anything the officer needs to know about substantially escalates the encounter because a reasonable person would understand the question as referring to weapons or contraband and as signaling an investigative motive and suspicion of criminality.

Questions Presented

1. Whether police officers' retention of Cost's identification while conducting a background or warrant check transformed the encounter from a mere encounter into an investigative detention.
2. Whether, under the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable person in Cost's position would have felt free to leave.

Disposition

affirmed