State v. Privott

I agree with the majority that, under the totality of the circumstances, the police officer dispatched to investigate the report of a man with a gun was constitutionally authorized to conduct an investigatory stop of defendant. I do not agree with the majority that the officer confronting defendant, who he reasonably believed was concealing a gun in his waistband, violated either the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article 1, Paragraph 7 of the New Jersey Constitution by lifting defendant’s shirt. The federal and state constitutions prohibit only “unreasonable searches…