State v. Anderson, 2018 Ohio 190

On Oct. 5, 2016, Dayton police responded to a silent burglary alarm at a cell-phone store on North Main Street.
Officer Jordan Wortham parked across the street and observed Dewan Anderson walk around the side of the business.
According to Wortham and cruiser video, Anderson stopped, turned, and walked away after noticing the marked cruiser; Wortham found this behavior suspicious and stopped Anderson.
When Wortham approached, he observed a “distinct bulge” at Anderson’s waistband, conducted a protective frisk, and felt items he recognized as packaged marijuana and pill capsules; a strong odor of marijuana was also detected.
The trial court denied Anderson’s motion to suppress; Anderson later pled no contest to one count of cocaine possession (fifth-degree felony) and received community control.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether officer had reasonable, articulable suspicion to stop Anderson under Terry	Officer’s response to alarm, Anderson’s proximity to business, and his abrupt stop/turn away from cruiser justified brief investigatory stop	Anderson’s brief movement and video do not show the sudden "blading" or conduct sufficient to create reasonable suspicion; other people were present and not stopped	Court: Under totality of circumstances, alarm + proximity + Anderson’s behavior gave reasonable, articulable suspicion to detain him
Whether frisk for weapons was justified	Officer observed a distinct bulge in waistband in a high-crime area while investigating an alarm; reasonable to suspect weapon and conduct frisk	Frisk exceeded bounds because officer lacked adequate basis to believe Anderson was armed	Court: Bulge combined with context gave reasonable grounds to frisk for weapons
Whether pat-down exceeded scope and required suppression of seized items	Plain-feel exception allows seizure if officer immediately recognizes contraband during lawful frisk	Seizure exceeded plain-feel because initial justification for frisk was invalid	Court: Officer immediately recognized packaged drugs by feel; seizure lawful under plain-feel doctrine

Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968) (officer may conduct brief investigatory stop based on reasonable, articulable suspicion)
State v. Jones, 70 Ohio App.3d 554 (2d Dist. 1990) (reasonable suspicion is more than a hunch but less than probable cause)
State v. Shepherd, 122 Ohio App.3d 358 (2d Dist. 1997) (reasonable-suspicion analysis uses totality of the circumstances)
State v. Bobo, 37 Ohio St.3d 177 (1988) (examining totality of circumstances for Terry stops)
State v. Andrews, 57 Ohio St.3d 86 (1991) (courts view facts through the perspective of a reasonable officer at the scene)