Slocum v. State, 599 S.E.2d 299 (Ga. Ct. App. 2004). · Go Syfert
Slocum v. State, 599 S.E.2d 299 (Ga. Ct. App. 2004). Cases Citing This Book View Copy Cite
47 citation events (47 in the last 25 years) across 1 distinct court.
Strongest positive: Durden v. State (gactapp, 2013-03-08)
Treatment trajectory · 2004 → 2026 · click a year to view as-of
2004 2015 2026
Top citers, strongest first. 16 distinct citers.
examined Cited as authority (verbatim quote) Durden v. State (3×) also: Cited as authority (rule), Cited "see, e.g."
Ga. Ct. App. · 2013 · quote attribution · 1 verbatim quote · confidence high
where the information is provided to police by an informant who is either an identified interested citizen or an identified victim of a crime, there is a presumption of reliability.
examined Cited as authority (verbatim quote) Steve Durden v. State (3×) also: Cited as authority (rule), Cited "see, e.g."
Ga. Ct. App. · 2013 · quote attribution · 1 verbatim quote · confidence high
where the information is provided to police by an informant who is either an identified interested citizen or an identified victim of a crime, there is a presumption of reliability.
discussed Cited as authority (quoted) Manzione v. State (2×) also: Cited "see, e.g."
Ga. Ct. App. · 2011 · signal: see also · quote attribution · 1 verbatim quote · confidence low
where the information is provided to police by an informant who is either an identified interested citizen or an identified victim of a crime, there is a presumption of reliability.
discussed Cited as authority (quoted) Dominguez v. State (2×) also: Cited "see"
Ga. Ct. App. · 2011 · signal: see · quote attribution · 1 verbatim quote · confidence high
where the information is provided to police by an informant who is either an identified interested citizen or an identified victim of a crime, there is a presumption of reliability.
discussed Cited as authority (quoted) Lamb v. State (2×) also: Cited as authority (rule)
Ga. Ct. App. · 2004 · quote attribution · 1 verbatim quote · confidence low
general suspicion or a mere hunch is not sufficient to support an investigative stop
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Kinsey v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2014 · confidence medium
“Although the primary means by which officers acquire reasonable suspicion is personal observation, information acquired from an informant that exhibits a sufficient indicia of reliability can also be the basis for reasonable suspicion.” (Citation omitted.) Slocum v. State, 267 Ga. App. 337, 338 ( 599 SE2d 299 ) (2004). (a) Kinsey argues that the police officers were required to corroborate the information given by the 911 caller.
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Tevon White v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2014 · confidence medium
“Although the primary means by which officers acquire reasonable suspicion is personal observation, information acquired from an informant that exhibits a sufficient indicia of reliability can also be the basis for reasonable suspicion.” (Citation omitted.) Slocum v. State, 267 Ga. App. 337, 338 ( 599 SE2d 299 ) (2004). (a) Kinsey argues that the police officers were required to corroborate the information given by the 911 caller.
discussed Cited as authority (rule) James Thomas Heard v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2013 · confidence medium
In this case, the basis of the officer’s suspicion was insufficient to justify the continued or second detention.11 The officer had no information about the reliability 10 See Felton, supra; see generally Nash, supra. 11 See Register v. State, 315 Ga. App. 776, 778 ( 728 SE2d 292 ) (2012) (a tip provided by an informant of unknown reliability will not ordinarily create a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity; but if the tip is detailed enough to provide some basis for predicting the future behavior of the suspect, reliability may be established if the details are corroborated by the obse…
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Kelvin Johnson v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2013 · confidence medium
“Although the primary means by which officers acquire reasonable suspicion is personal observation, information acquired from an informant that exhibits a sufficient indicia of reliability can also be the basis for reasonable suspicion.” (Citation omitted.) Slocum v. State, 267 Ga. App. 337, 338 ( 599 SE2d 299 ) (2004).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Johnson v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2013 · confidence medium
“Although the primary means by which officers acquire reasonable suspicion is personal observation, information acquired from an informant that exhibits a sufficient indicia of reliability can also be the basis for reasonable suspicion.” (Citation omitted.) Slocum v. State, 267 Ga. App. 337, 338 ( 599 SE2d 299 ) (2004).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) John D. Lewis v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2013 · confidence medium
But these reasons alone do not establish that 11 Hernandez-Lopez v. State, 319 Ga. App. 662, 663 (1) ( 738 SE2d 116 ) (2013) (punctuation omitted). 12 Id. at 663-64 (1) (punctuation omitted) (emphasis supplied). 13 Slocum v. State, 267 Ga. App. 337, 337 ( 599 SE2d 299 ) (2004) (punctuation omitted). 5 the deputy had “a particularized and objective basis for suspecting [Lewis] of criminal activity sufficient to justify an investigatory stop.”14 First, despite the trial court and State’s characterization of the tip at issue, the fact remains that the tip came from an anonymous individual, …
cited Cited as authority (rule) Lewis v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2013 · confidence medium
Slocum v. State, 267 Ga. App. 337, 337 ( 599 SE2d 299 ) (2004) (punctuation omitted).
cited Cited as authority (rule) Grandberry v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2008 · confidence medium
Slocum v. State, 267 Ga. App. 337, 338 ( 599 SE2d 299 ) (2004).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Young v. State
Ga. Ct. App. · 2007 · confidence medium
Phipps and Mikell, JJ., concur. 1 Smith v. State, 245 Ga. App. 613, 615 ( 538 SE2d 517 ) (2000). 2 (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Slocum v. State, 267 Ga. App. 337, 337-338 ( 599 SE2d 299 ) (2004). 3 (Citation omitted.) Lyttle v. State, 279 Ga. App. 659, 661 ( 632 SE2d 394 ) (2006). 4 See Baker v. State, 256 Ga. App. 75, 78-79 (1) ( 567 SE2d 738 ) (2002).
discussed Cited "see" Heard v. State (2×)
Ga. Ct. App. · 2013 · signal: see · confidence high
See Slocum, 267 Ga. App. 337, 338 ( 599 SE2d 299 ) (2004); see generally Register, supra. Dominguez, supra at 374-375 .
discussed Cited "see" Lacy v. State (2×)
Ga. Ct. App. · 2007 · signal: see · confidence high
See Slocum v. *649 State, 267 Ga. App. 337, 338 ( 599 SE2d 299 ) (2004) (the reasonableness of the officers’ suspicion “must be measured by what [they] knew before they made the stop”) (citation and punctuation omitted).
Slocum
v.
the State
A04A1067.
Court of Appeals of Georgia.
May 10, 2004.
599 S.E.2d 299
Whitmer & Law, George H. Law III, for appellant., Jerry Rylee, Solicitor-General, Jennifer L. Scalia, Assistant Solicitor - General, for appellee.
Andrews, Miller, Ellington.
Cited by 20 opinions  |  Published
2 passages pin-cited by 3 cases
Pinpoint authority: bottom 91%
Citer courts: Court of Appeals of Georgia (3)
ANDREWS, Presiding Judge.

Justin Michael Slocum was found guilty in a bench trial of driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol. The evidence relied upon by the State to support the DUI conviction was obtained after police stopped the vehicle Slocum was driving to investigate whether the occupants were involved in an assault reported in a 911 telephone call from a pay phone near the stop. Slocum appeals claiming the trial court should have granted his motion to suppress the evidence supporting the conviction because the information given in the call failed to provide police with reasonable suspicion to make the stop. For the following reasons, we agree and reverse.

The record shows that a female called 911 at night from a pay phone near an intersection on a major thoroughfare in Hall County reporting that she had been assaulted by a white male and that a dark colored sport utility vehicle (SUV) was involved. The record is not clear as to whether the 911 caller identified herself to the operator. However, the record shows that the police officers who made the stop had no information as to the identity of the woman or the man; when or where the assault occurred; how the SUV was involved; or any other information identifying the SUV. When police arrived at the pay phone to investigate the report, they found no one there, but they saw a dark colored Ford Explorer SUV about a block away traveling on the thoroughfare from the area in light traffic conditions. Police briefly followed the SUV and noticed the outline of two heads visible in the vehicle, although they could not determine if they were male or female. They observed no traffic or other offenses, but activated the patrol car’s blue lights and stopped the SUV solely to investigate whether the SUV and its occupants had any connection to the reported assault. At the bench trial, the State produced evidence collected pursuant to the stop showing that Slocum was driving the SUV while under the influence of alcohol in violation of OCGA § 40-6-391 (a).

Even if there is no probable cause to arrest for a traffic or other offense, the Fourth Amendment allows police to stop a vehicle to investigate a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Vansant v. State, 264 Ga. 319, 320 (443 SE2d 474) (1994). To meet the reasonable suspicion standard, police must point, under the totality of the circumstances, to “specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, . . . [provide] a particularized and objective basis for suspecting the particular person stopped of criminal activity.” (Punctuation omitted.) Id. at 320; Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1 (88 SC 1868, 20 LE2d 889) (1968).[*338] Accordingly, a general suspicion or a mere hunch is not sufficient to support an investigative stop. Although the primary means by which officers acquire reasonable suspicion is personal observation, information acquired from an informant that exhibits a sufficient indicia of reliability can also be the basis for reasonable suspicion. Alabama v. White, 496 U. S. 325, 328 (110 SC 2412, 110 LE2d 301) (1990). Where the information is provided to police by an informant who is either an identified interested citizen or an identified victim of a crime, there is a presumption of reliability. Hinson v. State, 229 Ga. App. 840, 842 (494 SE2d 693) (1997); Hudson v. State, 253 Ga. App. 210, 211 (558 SE2d 420) (2001). But where police acquire information from an anonymous informant or one of unknown reliability, this is ordinarily not a sufficient basis to provide reasonable suspicion, unless the information exhibits sufficient indicia of reliability. Alabama v. White, 496 U. S. at 329-332; Florida v. J. L., 529 U. S. 266, 269-271 (120 SC 1375, 146 LE2d 254) (2000). For example, information provided by these types of informants may exhibit sufficient indicia of reliability if it provides details correctly predicting a subject’s “not easily predicted” future behavior, or if it provides other details which police corroborate as showing similar inside information about the subject’s affairs. Alabama v. White, 496 U. S. at 332; Britton v. State, 220 Ga. App. 120, 121-122 (469 SE2d 272) (1996).

In the present case, the information given to the police by the 911 caller was insufficient, without more, to provide the police with reasonable suspicion to stop the SUV driven by Slocum to investigate whether its occupants were involved in the reported assault. Regardless of whether we assume the information was provided by an identified victim of a crime with presumed reliability or an anonymous caller with no presumed reliability, it provided only a bare assertion that a white male had assaulted the caller and that a dark colored SUV was somehow involved. Even if we assume that the officers could rationally infer from this information that the assailant was in a dark colored SUV, the caller did not give a detailed description of the SUV, nor did the caller say the SUV was headed in a certain direction or was even in the area of the pay phone when the call was made. Moreover, when the police arrived at the pay phone, the caller was not there, so the officers were unable to obtain any additional information. The State points out that, after the officers stopped the SUV, they obtained evidence at the stop that a woman in the SUV was the 911 caller who reported the assault. However, even if the information provided in the 911 call was proved correct after the stop, it does not follow that the officers had reasonable suspicion to make the stop. “The reasonableness of official suspicion must be measured by what the officers knew before they [made the stop].” Florida v. J. L., 529 U. S. at 271. The information on which the officers acted to stop[*339] the SUV provided them with no more than a general suspicion or hunch that the occupants of a dark colored SUV traveling with other traffic on a major thoroughfare in the general area might be involved in the reported assault. Vansant, 264 Ga. at 321. Because the officers stopped the SUV without the reasonable suspicion necessary to justify an investigative stop, the stop was an unreasonable intrusion under the Fourth Amendment, and the trial court erred by denying Slocum’s motion to suppress.

Decided May 10, 2004. Whitmer & Law, George H. Law III, for appellant. Jerry Rylee, Solicitor-General, Jennifer L. Scalia, Assistant Solicitor - General, for appellee.

Judgment reversed.

Miller and Ellington, JJ., concur.