State v. McKinney

Smith, Chief Judge.

The State appeals from the trial court’s order granting Dwayne Calvin McKinney’s motion to suppress. The trial court correctly concluded that the officer’s initial contact with McKinney was a proper “first tier level interaction,” but it erred in concluding that the officer did not thereafter have a reasonable articulable suspicion to conduct a limited pat-down search for weapons. We therefore reverse.

While the trial court’s findings as to disputed facts in a ruling on a motion to suppress will be reviewed to determine whether the ruling was clearly erroneous, where the…