People v. Hill, 2019 IL App (4th) 180041 (January). Episode 584 (Duration 16:08 )







Officer sees passenger riding low in the seat and thinks it may be a guy wanted on warrant, turns out it wasn’t him.























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Issue







Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence of the cocaine found in the car, arguing the officer did not have reasonable suspicion for the stop and, alternatively, probable cause to search defendant’s car.







Trial judge grants the motion, in part, because the officer had no other corroborating evidence of identification.







Gist







Defendant was the driver of the car.







The car, however, was stopped because of a mistaken identity of the passenger.







The State charged the driver with unlawful possession of a substance containing less than 15 grams of cocaine.







Resolution







The court concluded the officer did nothing wrong. The constitution does not require perfection. The car was legally stopped even though the traffic stop was based on a mistaken identity.







After the stop, the officer was legally entitled to engage the occupants. When he did he realized the man was not who he thought he was, but he also noticed the odor of cannabis.







At that point, the search of the car was legally justified.







Passenger Riding Low







Officer sees a Chevrolet Monte Carlo quickly decelerated such that traffic began to back up.







As the car drove by the officer, he noticed the passenger was reclined in the car with his head mostly obstructed by the side panel, where the seatbelt is attached, referred to by the officer as the “B panel.”







The officer then drove from his parked location in order to get a better look at the passenger. It was his experience that people wanted on warrants or concerned about rival gang members frequently ride in the same manner he was observing ...