People v. Bower

Opinion

BIRD, C. J.

— This court must decide whether an officer may constitutionally detain a citizen because he is a white man who happens to be with a group of black men in a black residential area at 8:37 p.m.

I

At 8:37 p.m. on Monday, December 22, 1975, Officers Philip F. Povey and James Hunt of the San Francisco Police Department were in a *642marked patrol car about 50 yards from the entrance to a residential complex at 1127 Pierce Street. Officer Povey observed appellant (a Caucasian), a black woman, and two or three black men come out of an elevator at “the projects.”

The officer testified his…