United States v. Michael Torres, 961 F.3d 618

On Oct. 31, 2017, in a high‑crime area of York, a bystander told Officer Pickel that he had just seen a man (Torres) fire two shots while standing on a bridge; the tipster described the man’s clothing.
Officer Pickel immediately followed Torres, activated lights, drew his service weapon, ordered Torres to the ground, and other officers handcuffed him; an officer asked if Torres had a gun, Torres said yes and indicated his right pocket, and officers recovered the firearm.
Torres was indicted under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon; he moved to suppress the gun as the product of an unlawful seizure.
At a bench trial Torres was convicted; the PSR applied a 15‑year mandatory minimum under the ACCA (§ 924(e)) based on three qualifying felonies: two state drug possession convictions and a federal drug distribution conspiracy conviction (plus an attempted homicide conviction).
Torres argued the initial seizure was an arrest unsupported by probable cause (or lacked reasonable suspicion if a stop) and that his federal conspiracy conviction should not count as an ACCA predicate because it encompassed his state possession convictions.
The district court denied suppression, applied the ACCA enhancement, sentenced Torres to 180 months, and the Third Circuit affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the officers’ seizure was an arrest requiring probable cause (and thus unlawful)	Torres: Surrounding, handcuffing, and pointing guns constituted a warrantless arrest without probable cause	Gov’t: The encounter was a brief investigatory stop justified by a reliable tip and officer safety concerns	The stop was an investigatory stop (not an arrest); it was reasonable in intrusion and duration
Whether the investigatory stop was supported by reasonable suspicion based on the informant’s tip	Torres: The tip was unreliable/anonymous and officers should have corroborated before pursuing	Gov’t: The tip bore indicia of reliability (face‑to‑face, recent observation, detailed description, high‑crime area), supporting reasonable suspicion	The tip had sufficient indicia of reliability under the totality of circumstances; reasonable suspicion existed
Whether a federal drug conspiracy conviction may serve as an ACCA predicate when it encompasses related substantive offenses	Torres: The federal conspiracy conviction subsumed the state possession offenses and therefore should not be counted separately as a predicate	Gov’t: Conspiracy can be broader and count as a separate episode if distinct in time from substantive offenses	The conspiracy counts as an ACCA predicate so long as it is a separate episode distinct in time from the substantive offenses

Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (permits brief investigative stops when officer has reasonable suspicion)
Navarette v. California, 572 U.S. 393 (recent, on‑the‑scene reports of dangerous conduct can bear indicia of reliability)
United States v. Brown, 448 F.3d 239 (sets factors for evaluating informant tip reliability)
United States v. Johnson, 592 F.3d 442 (3d Cir. decision treating a similar rapid, safety‑driven stop as investigative)
United States v. Schoolcraft, 879 F.2d 64 (separate‑episode test for determining whether offenses were committed on different occasions)
United States v. Melbie, 751 F.3d 586 (holding that possession during a conspiracy can be a discrete episode and count as an ACCA predicate)