People v. Ratcliff

In this interlocutory appeal the People challenge a ruling of the district court suppressing a plastic vial containing cocaine, which a police officer took from the defendant during a pat-down search of his person, and also other physical and verbal evidence obtained subsequent to the seizure of the cocaine. The district court ruled that there was not probable cause to arrest the defendant and that, even though the officer validly stopped and temporarily detained the defendant, the officer’s seizure and examination of the contents of the closed plastic vial exceeded the limits of a…