An officer saw defendant’s SUV parked behind a bar and saw furtive movements when the occupants saw the officer. He drove up on them shining his police car lights. He could smell marijuana smoke, and that was justification for a search of the car. State v. McMullen, 2010 Ohio 3369, 2010 Ohio App. LEXIS 2856 (12th Dist. July 19, 2010).* This is the reasonable suspicion, for which there is no articulable basis of a crime:
[*P2] Officer Scott Johnson of the Trenton Police Department was on patrol in the evening hours of March 27, 2009, when he pulled into the parking lot of Whitey's Bar. According to Johnson's testimony at the motion to suppress hearing, upon pulling into the parking lot, he noticed a parked SUV that was occupied by multiple people. When Johnson saw that some of the people in the vehicle were making furtive movements, he approached the SUV in his police cruiser and turned on his spotlight. Once Johnson shined his light into the vehicle, he noticed the front passenger 'ducking underneath the dashboard' and that his head came up and down.
[*P3] Johnson also noticed that a 'considerable' amount of smoke was coming from the vehicle and that the passengers continued to make furtive movements. At that point, Johnson exited his cruiser and approached the vehicle. As he walked closer, he saw some of the passengers bend over and put their hands down in the seat, and also noticed that the smoke coming from the vehicle smelled of 'raw burnt marijuana.' Johnson saw three people sitting in the back and two in the front of the vehicle, and continued to see smoke coming from the back corner.
So, if no furtive movements on seeing the police the stop was unjustified? This just is not reasonable suspicion.
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