Abandonment of Bag Extinguishes Fourth Amendment Claim

US v. Frazer: The day after a shooting in Silver Spring, Maryland, a police officer saw two men – Frazer and Moore – walking through the area, each with “small black bags strapped across their bodies.” The officer thought that was suspicious, because the bags were useful for carrying firearms and easily disposable, but didn’t make contact with the men. Two weeks later, in the same area, the officer saw Frazer and Moore again, both with bags. After calling for backup, the officer decided to stop them for a “pedestrian violation” (they were walking down the middle of a road/apartment parking lot rather than on the sidewalks) – admittedly a pretext. When uniformed officers arrived, Frazer and Moore fled “through the apartment complex.”

Officers found Frazer and Moore in an open stairwell of one of the buildings and yelled for them to stop. Neither did, and instead “responded by climbing over the second-story railing of the stairwell.” Moore managed to escape (briefly), but Frazer, “who was hanging on to the second-story railing,” climbed back to the stairs and started walking down after the officer threatened to taze him. When ordered to drop the bag, Frazer “turned and walked away” to “the second-story railing where he had been dangling, took off his black bag, and threw it at least 40 feet away.” Frazer was arrested, the bag was seized, and a firearm recovered, along with some marijuana. He was charged with several firearm and drug offenses, and, after unsuccessfully moving to suppress the evidence found at the time of his arrest, was convicted of drug conspiracy, possession with intent, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

On appeal, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of Frazer’s motion to suppress. As to the stop itself, the court concluded that “Frazer’s headlong flight and noncompliance” with the officer’s commands “establish the necessary reasonable suspicion” to support the stop. The court noted that Frazer and Moore fled “while others in the community did not flee” and rejected Frazer’s argument that, as a Black man, he might have justification to run from police as being “without evidentiary support.” That is regardless of whether the “pedestrian violation” would have supported a stop in the first place. As to the search of Frazer’s bag itself, the court concluded that he “voluntarily abandoned the bag and that he lacks and Fourth Amendment standing to challenge the search.”