Terry v.

Ohio
392 U.S. I (1968)
Facts: Officer McFadden was patroling downtown Cleveland when he spotted
Terry and Chilton on a street corner, and took up a position 300-400 feet
away. One of the two walked down the street and stopped to look in a shop
windows before returning to the corner, the second went to the same window
before returning to the street corner to confer breifly. The two repeated these
proceedures aproximately six times each, to equal around a dozen trips. After
this a third man approached the two and spoke with them briefly before
leaving. Officer McFadden testified that he suspected the two men were
planning a robbery and that one or both may be armed. He followed them.
The two suspects stopped infront of the store they had previously visited, and
were approached by the third man again. Officer Mcfadden approached the
three, identified himself, and proceeded to question them. At one point
durring the questioning Officer Mcfadden grabbed petitioner Terry, turned him
around, and proceeded to frisk him. He claimed to have felt a firearm but was
unable to remove it. Officer Mcfadden then ordered the three men into the
store and removed what was a .38 revolver from Terry's jacket pocket, he
then proceeded to frisk Terry's two companions, in which he found another
firearm in Chilton's jacket pocket. Officer Mcfadden claims that he preformed
brief searchs, never straying past their jackets. All three suspects were
arrested and detained.

Issue: Was Officer McFadden's search a violation of Terry and Chilton's 4th
Amendment rights?

Answer: No.

Rules: An officer may perform a search for weapons without a warrant,

even without probable cause, when the officer reasonably believes that
the person may be armed illegaly.
Application/Analysis: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is a reasonable

search when an officer performs a seizure and a limited search for

weapons on a person that the officer reasonably believes could be
armed.

Conclusion: The U.S. Supreme Court held that the 4th Amendment

prohibition on unreasonable searches is not violated when a police

officer stops a suspect on the street and frisks him or her without
probable cause, if the police officer has a reasonable suspicion that the
person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime
and has a reasonable belief that the person may be armed and
presently dangerous.