State v. Thomas

The state appeals an order suppressing a plastic bag of cocaine. We reverse.

Two deputies were patrolling a “high drug area” of Lee County in a marked vehicle. They turned onto Bessie Court, which is described as a cul-de-sac. Three or four subjects, including appellee Marvin Thomas, scattered at the approach of the patrol car. Thomas ran around and behind a nearby house, which the deputies knew was not his residence. One of the deputies followed on foot and observed Thomas kneeling and reaching underneath the house. Thomas then ran twenty to thirty feet away and stood beneath a tree looking…