Michael Hart was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and now appeals from his conviction and sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) (“ACCA”). Hart argues that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress all evidence seized incident to a Terry stop, including a firearm. He additionally claims that the district court erred in concluding that his prior conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (“ABDW”) qualified as a predicate offense under ACCA. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm both the conviction and sentence.
I.
We begin by outlining the facts, reciting them “as the trial court found them, consistent with record support.”
United States v. Am,
On July 7, 2009, five Massachusetts State Police troopers assigned to the Southeastern Massachusetts Gang Task Force, including Lavoie and Grasso, were dispatched to the area of 102 Griffin Court in New Bedford. Three males had escaped from a Massachusetts Department of Youth Services detention center, and the officers were investigating their whereabouts.
Trooper Lavoie testified that the troopers had been provided with photographs and physical descriptions of the three escapees, including information on height, weight, and race, though Grasso testified that he was only briefed on racial information. Troopers Grasso and Lavoie saw Hart speaking with a woman at the rear of 102 Griffin Court, and both troopers testified that, from a distance, they believed Hart might have been one of the escapees. Hart, however, was at least six inches taller, more than ten years older, and one-hundred pounds heavier than any of the fugitives. His race was the only characteristic he shared with any of the escapees.
Though the troopers were not in uniform, they were wearing jackets with gang task force insignia. The troopers proceeded in Hart’s direction, and Hart appeared startled to see them. Also noting the troopers, the woman with whom he was speaking yelled into the house that the police were approaching.
At that point, Hart walked briskly away from the troopers and toward a gray vehicle parked in a nearby alley, bending over slightly and clutching at his waist as he went. Based on their training and experience, the troopers believed Hart was carrying a concealed weapon.
Trooper Lavoie followed Hart and observed him turn, or “blade,” his body so as to shield his movement from the troopers’ view as he entered the passenger side of the vehicle. Despite Hart’s best efforts, Lavoie observed him reach his hand under his shirt and remove an object from his belt area. Sitting down, Hart deposited the object between his seat and the door.
Behind the wheel was Tiffany Gomes, a woman with whom Hart had an intimate relationship, who had been waiting for him while he visited friends at 102 Griffin Court. Trooper Lavoie moved to the driver’s side of the vehicle and told Gomes to put the car in park and turn off the engine.
At Trooper Lavoie’s request, Hart produced identification, and the trooper recognized Hart as a member of the Montes Park street gang. Hart rocked back and forth in his seat, not meeting the trooper’s eyes, and then placed his hands on the dashboard without being asked, behavior Lavoie found peculiar.
Trooper Grasso joined Lavoie and, both moving to the passenger side, ordered Hart out of the car. Hart appeared very nervous to both troopers; when asked if he had anything on him Hart responded, “Who me? I don’t think so,” before looking at the area between the seat and the door. Trooper Lavoie followed Hart’s gaze and saw plainly the handle of a handgun.
As one of the troopers handcuffed Hart, he yelled out, “It’s all mine, [Gomes] has nothing to do with it.” The troopers retrieved the firearm, a .40 caliber Baretta loaded with ten rounds of ammunition. Hart was read his Miranda rights, and he admitted possession of the gun and described it in accurate detail.
*38 A federal grand jury returned a one-count indictment on December 2, 2009, charging Hart with being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). After an unsuccessful attempt to suppress the evidence, Hart entered a conditional plea of guilty, the district court concluded that his criminal record contained three ACCA predicate offenses, and Hart was sentenced to 180 months’ imprisonment, the statutory minimum under ACCA.
II.
A. The Motion to Suppress
On appeal, Hart challenges the denial of his motion to suppress the evidence seized during his encounter with Troopers Lavoie and Grasso. First, Hart argues the troopers lacked reasonable suspicion to conduct a
Terry
stop.
See Terry v. Ohio,
We review findings of historical fact — and inferences drawn from those facts — for clear error, which exists when we are left with a “definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.”
United States v. Wright,
A temporary police detention constitutes a seizure and, therefore, must be reasonable.
Ruidíaz,
The Supreme Court has held that a defendant’s apprehensive, evasive behavior may further heighten reasonable suspicion and that flight from law enforcement is a clear act of evasion.
Illinois v. Wardlow,
The district court concluded that the stop was justified based on officer safety, reasoning that officers securing an area to conduct an investigation could stop an individual present at the scene whom they reasonably suspected of concealing a weapon. Hart counters that officer safety only becomes relevant after officers have executed a legitimate
Terry
stop. We may affirm the district court’s decision on any ground made manifest in the record,
Spencer v. Roche,
Here, Hart’s reaction to the police revealed a “series of acts, each of them perhaps innocent in itself, but which taken together warranted further investigation.”
Terry,
Hart implies that, even if these observations suggest he was concealing a weapon, this may not form the basis for reasonable suspicion because carrying a concealed weapon is not a crime in Massachusetts. But what struck the troopers was not just that Hart appeared to be carrying a concealed object, but that he painstakingly concealed that object from their view and attempted to hide it in the vehicle. Hart’s behavior signaled that what he carried was unlawful and, therefore, caused the troopers to reasonably suspect criminal conduct.
Next, Hart disputes the propriety of the troopers’ actions after they initiated
*40
the investigatory stop.
2
An officer’s conduct throughout a
Terry
encounter must be “fairly responsive to the emerging tableau,”
Chhien,
The parties agree that Trooper Lavoie initiated the stop when he asked Gomes to place the car in park and turn off the engine. From there, Hart was recognized as a member of the Montes Park gang, appeared nervous, rocked back and forth in his seat, avoided eye contact, and placed his hands on the dashboard without being asked. It was at this point that the troopers, already suspecting Hart had a weapon, ordered him out of the car and discovered the handgun in plain view. Based on the unfolding events, both preceding and pursuant to the investigatory stop, we conclude that the officers responded reasonably throughout the encounter.
See Ruidíaz,
Finally, Hart argues that it was clear error for the district court to credit the troopers’ testimony that the firearm was in plain view. Instead, he urges that the district court should have credited Gomes’s testimony that the gun was located in a plastic bag in the backseat of the vehicle. We review credibility findings for clear error, a standard highly deferential to the district court’s conclusions.
McGregor,
In assessing the credibility of the various witnesses, the district court was well within its discretion. Among other things, the court noted that Gomes was not initially honest about her intimate relationship with Hart and that this relationship, once revealed, established a bias. We defer to the district court’s conclusion that the troopers’ testimony was more credible concerning the location of the gun.
Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s denial of Hart’s motion to suppress.
B. ACCA Predicate Offense
We move on to the sentencing issue raised by the defendant. To be sentenced pursuant to ACCA, Hart had to have been convicted of three prior violent felonies, serious drug offenses, or a combination thereof. 18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(1). We review
de novo
whether Hart’s Massachusetts conviction for ABDW categorically qualifies as an ACCA predicate offense.
See United States v. Dancy,
ACCA defines a “violent felony” as
any crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year ... that—
(i) has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person of another; or
(ii) is burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.
*41
18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B). Clause (i) is referred to as the “force clause,” while the portion of clause (n) following the enumerated offenses is called the “residual clause.”
Dancy,
Under either clause, we take a categorical approach in determining whether a conviction qualifies as an ACCA predicate offense, meaning we “consider only the offense’s legal definition, forgoing any inquiry into how the defendant may have committed the offense.”
Holloway,
An offense qualifies under ACCA’s residual clause if it is “burglary, arson, or extortion, involves use of explosives, or otherwise involves conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another.”
3
18 U.S.C. § 924(e)(2)(B)(i). The offense must (1) present a degree of risk similar to the degree of risk posed by the enumerated offenses, and (2) be roughly similar in kind to the enumerated offenses.
Begay,
We have previously held that Massachusetts assault with a dangerous weapon (“ADW”) qualifies as an ACCA predicate offense under the force clause,
4
Am,
Johnson
called for federal courts to use state court construction of state law in determining whether a state conviction qualified as a predicate offense under ACCA.
Pursuant to the residual clause analysis as outlined in
Begay,
we first evaluate ABDW’s comparative degree of risk.
that the elements of assault be present, that there be a touching, however slight, that that touching be by means of the weapon, and that the battery be accomplished by use of an inherently dangerous weapon, or by use of some other object as a weapon, with the intent to use that object in a dangerous or potentially dangerous fashion.
Commonwealth v. Appleby,
ABDW clearly poses a serious potential risk of injury, comparable to the degree of risk posed by the enumerated offenses, as the definitional element of the crime is a touching by means of a dangerous weapon.
See Glover,
The second prong of the
Begay
inquiry requires an offense to be roughly similar in kind to the enumerated offenses in that it must “typically involve purposeful, violent, and aggressive conduct.”
In
United States v. Dancy,
we examined the crime of assault and battery on a police
*44
officer (“ABPO”), and we observed that ABPO requires additional elements, which distinguish it from simple AB, ensuring the underlying conduct is typically purposeful as required by
Begay. Dancy,
The objective of ACCA, moreover, is to identify prior convictions which indicate that “an offender, later possessing a gun, will use that gun deliberately to harm a victim.”
Begay,
III.
For the reasons provided above, we affirm Hart’s conviction and sentence.
Notes
. One factor in evaluating the totality of the circumstances is the character of the area in which the defendant was seized, a factual issue on which the district court made no finding.
See United States v. Wright,
. Hart specifically argues that the troopers lacked reasonable suspicion to search him pursuant to the investigatory stop. Yet, the record indicates that the troopers never actually conducted a protective frisk. We can only assume, as the government did in its briefing, that Hart’s argument pertains to the scope of the Terry encounter, which concluded when the troopers discovered the gun.
. We reject Hart’s argument that the residual clause is unconstitutionally vague.
See James v. United States,
. ADW is a lesser-included offense of ABDW.
See Commonwealth v. Appleby,
. The Sentencing Guidelines’ term "crime of violence” and ACCA’s term "violent felony” are defined almost identically.
See United States v. Holloway,
. Whether a weapon is found dangerous as used depends on the characteristics of the object, the way in which the defendant manipulated it, and the details surrounding the assault and the use of the instrument.
Commonwealth v. Tevlin,
. Massachusetts ABDW may be committed (1) intentionally or (2) wantonly or recklessly.
Commonwealth v. Burno,
. In Massachusetts, conduct that underlies a conviction for operating under the influence ("OUI”) and causing serious bodily injury may also be charged as ABDW.
See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Filoma,
. The enumerated offenses themselves demonstrate that "violent felony” describes a spectrum of dangerous conduct, embodying various attributes of purposefulness, violence, and aggression. For instance, burglary contemplates purposefulness, but not necessarily conduct that is deliberately violent or aggressive as a matter of course.
United States v. Williams,
. We additionally note that the government, in its brief and in a letter submitted pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28(j), argues that Hart's conviction for resisting arrest also qualifies as an ACCA predicate offense. Although the district court did not consider this conviction at sentencing, we agree with the government that Hart's resisting arrest conviction qualifies as an ACCA predicate.
See United States v. Curet,
