Near a house police considered to be a place of cocaine traffic, officers spotted a man walking toward them. When eye contact was made the man turned and walked away down an alley, the police pursued and stopped and searched the suspect. During the pat down search to be sure the accused had no weapons, an officer felt a lump in the man’s jacket pocket. He removed it and discovered it was a piece of crack cocaine. The man was charged with possession of a controlled substance. At trial court the accused move to suppress the cocaine but the motion was denied. The court said that Terry v. Ohio (1968) held that police had the right to stop someone suspected of being engaged in criminal activity and to search the suspect for a weapon and that the officer’s seizure took place after the officer formed the opinion that the lump was cocaine by feeling. The accused was found guilty. On appeal, the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed. They (1) concluded that the seizure was unconstitutionally under Terry v. Ohio and (2) declined to adopt a “plain feelâ€
The United States Supreme Court affirmed. They held: (1) a police officer may seize non threatening contraband detected during a pat down search as long as the officer’s search is strictly limited to that which is necessary for the discovery of weapons, but (2) in this case the Fourth Amendment did not permit the seizure of the cocaine where a) the officer determined that the lump was contraband only after squeezing, sliding and otherwise manipulating the contents of the pocket, which the officer already knew contained no weapons and b) because the officer’s further search was constitutionally invalid in that it was not authorized by Terry v. Ohio or any other exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement.
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