This case was brought to attention when a police officer named “Nolan noticed a man fleeing in a common area known for heavy narcotic trafficking” (Casebriefs, 2017). This situation is also commonly partnered with weapon usage. In the process of overseeing the area, Nolan spotted Wardlow running from the area in spite of seeing a group of police cars. Wardlow shouldn’t have any reason to run from the convoy if he wasn’t suspicious, so Nolan followed him. “He also saw him carrying a non see-through bag” (Casebriefs, 2017). Officer Nolan caught up with Wardlow. He went about to search him with what I think is good reasoning. Wardlow was running from the cops in a suspicious area. With reason of suspicion, Nolan stopped Wardlow to pat him down and check him for any drugs or weapons. The officer was aware of the type of area he was in, and he knew that use of weapons was common in the situation of drug trading and trafficking. While searching Wardlow, …show more content…
Wardlow was going to be convicted of use of the handgun. He tried to make the jury excuse it due to the fact that he shouldn’t have been stopped in the first place. Wardlow argued that even if he had the gun, the officer shouldn’t have suspected him if he ran because any person could run from the police just because they don’t want to be questioned for no reason. Again, “the Illinois court denied his request and he was convicted of unlawful use of a weapon” (Justia, 2000). The case was then taken to the appellate court where they reversed the ruling because Nolan did not actually have a reasonable suspicion to perform a Terry Stop, which is a brief holding of a person with reasonable cause that that person may be involved in criminal activity. Even if someone seems suspicious, there was no real evidence to show Wardlow was involved in criminal activity. The court also stated that there was no reasonable cause for Nolan to stop and search him even if the area was commonly known for