Cite as: 528 U. S. 119 (2000)
Opinion of Stevens, J.
statement: "He looked in our direction and began fleeing." App. 9.17
No other factors sufficiently support a finding of reasonable suspicion. Though respondent was carrying a white, opaque bag under his arm, there is nothing at all suspicious about that. Certainly the time of day—shortly after noon— does not support Illinois' argument. Nor were the officers "responding to any call or report of suspicious activity in the area." 183 Ill. 2d, at 315, 701 N. E. 2d, at 488. Officer Nolan did testify that he expected to find "an enormous amount of people," including drug customers or lookouts, App. 8, and the Court points out that "[i]t was in this context that Officer Nolan decided to investigate Wardlow after observing him flee," ante, at 124. This observation, in my view, lends insufficient weight to the reasonable suspicion analysis; indeed, in light of the absence of testimony that anyone else was nearby when respondent began to run, this observation points in the opposite direction.
The State, along with the majority of the Court, relies as well on the assumption that this flight occurred in a high crime area. Even if that assumption is accurate, it is insufficient because even in a high crime neighborhood unprovoked flight does not invariably lead to reasonable suspicion. On the contrary, because many factors providing innocent motivations for unprovoked flight are concentrated in high crime areas, the character of the neighborhood arguably makes an inference of guilt less appropriate, rather than more so. Like unprovoked flight itself, presence in a high crime neighborhood is a fact too generic and susceptible to innocent explanation to satisfy the reasonable suspicion inquiry. See Brown v. Texas, 443 U. S. 47, 52 (1979); see also n. 15, supra.
17 Officer Nolan also testified that respondent "was looking at us," App. 5 (emphasis added), though this minor clarification hardly seems sufficient to support the adverse inference.
139
Page: Index Previous 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007