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Name: People v. Rodgers
Case #: E034205
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 2
Opinion Date: 08/18/2005
Subsequent History: Rev. GRANTED 11/30/05: S137422
Summary

Vehicle stop based on tip: Police officers stopped appellant’s vehicle as he was driving out of his apartment complex based on a tip from an anonymous informant who claimed to have heard a man telling a woman that he was going to kill her. Officers stopped appellant in the described location four minutes later in a car which fit the description. The officers saw no evidence of criminal activity, but the female passenger, later identified as appellant’s wife, was crying. Appellant said they were having a fight. The officers patted down appellant and found no weapons. While appellant was placed in the police car, Mrs. Rodgers consented to a search of the vehicle. The search yielded a gun and ammunition in the trunk. The appellate court found that the stop of the vehicle was justified. While the officer made no observation of criminal activity, he did make observations consistent with the anonymous tip. Since the tip concerned ongoing criminal conduct posing an imminent serious threat to human life, it was sufficient to justify the stop. The exigent circumstances here distinguish the case from Florida v. J.L.