Facts
- Minneapolis police officers saw Timothy Dickerson leave a building known for crack cocaine activity.
- After Dickerson noticed a marked squad car, he abruptly changed direction and walked into an alley.
- Officers stopped Dickerson and conducted a protective patdown search for weapons under Terry v. Ohio.
- The frisk revealed no weapons, but an officer felt a small lump in Dickerson’s jacket pocket.
- The officer manipulated the lump with his fingers and concluded it felt like crack cocaine packaged in cellophane.
- The officer reached into the pocket and seized a plastic bag containing crack cocaine.
- Dickerson was charged with possession of a controlled substance and moved to suppress the cocaine.
- The trial court denied suppression, treating the seizure as analogous to “plain view.”
- The Minnesota appellate courts upheld the stop and frisk but held the seizure unconstitutional and suppressed the evidence.
Issues
- Whether the Fourth Amendment permits warrantless seizure of nonthreatening contraband detected by touch during a lawful Terry patdown.
- Whether the officer’s handling of the object in Dickerson’s pocket stayed within Terry’s limits such that the seizure was constitutional.
Decision
- The Supreme Court affirmed suppression of the cocaine.
- The Court held that the Fourth Amendment permits a “plain feel” seizure during a lawful Terry frisk when the object’s identity as contraband is immediately apparent from its contour or mass.
- The Court held the seizure here unconstitutional because the officer determined the object was contraband only after manipulating it beyond what was necessary to assess whether it was a weapon.
- The Court rejected a categorical rule barring all seizures of contraband detected by touch during a patdown.
Legal Principles
- A Terry frisk is a limited protective search for weapons; if it goes beyond what is necessary to determine whether the suspect is armed, it becomes invalid and its fruits must be suppressed.
- During a lawful Terry patdown, an officer may seize an item if its contraband character is immediately apparent through touch, without additional probing.
- “Plain feel” is a tactile analogue to “plain view” and is justified only when the lawful frisk already authorizes the contact and the incriminating character is apparent at once.
- Manipulating, squeezing, sliding, or otherwise exploring an object after it is apparent the item is not a weapon is an additional search not justified by officer-safety concerns and ordinarily requires probable cause and a warrant.
Conclusion
The Court recognized a limited “plain feel” doctrine allowing seizure of contraband detected during a lawful Terry patdown when its illicit nature is immediately apparent, but held the seizure in this case unconstitutional because the officer exceeded Terry’s scope by manipulating the object to determine it was cocaine.