United States v. Izeal Rideau, Jr.

PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge:

This case requires us to consider the reasonableness of a police officer’s actions in an encounter with a person he suspected was intoxicated, standing in the road, at night, in a high crime area. A panel of this court held that the officer violated the Fourth Amendment when he reached out and touched the pants pocket of the individual and discovered a gun. We granted rehearing en banc, and now hold that the officer’s actions were reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.

I

At about 10:30 one night in July of 1989,1 police officer Jimmy Ellison and his…