LOS ANGELES — Police officers cannot detain someone on the street just because that person tries to avoid contact with them, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The decision has immediate implications for police officers working all across the state, restricting the grounds under which they can stop and hold people for questioning. It could also affect other litigation in which arrests are being challenged, particularly when people of color allege they were detained simply for trying to avoid police.

Someone acting nervous or attempting to conceal themselves can still be "relevant context" for officers, but those actions alone do not constitute "reasonable suspicion of criminal activity," Justice Carol Corrigan wrote for the unanimous high court.

Officers "may consider what they see in plain view" and can also "approach people in public, engage them in consensual conversation, and take note of their appearance and behavior," Corrigan wrote, but absent probable cause "the person is constitutionally protected and empowered to go on his or her way."

The decision — in a case brought by a Los Angeles man arrested on suspicion of having drugs and a gun after police said he tried to hide from them — was immediately blasted by the union that represents rank-and-file LAPD officers, who called the high court "out-of-touch." The LAPD did not respond to a request for comment.

Richard Fitzer, an attorney for plaintiff Marlon Flores, praised public defenders who worked the case initially and called the ruling "a vindication of the rights of minorities." The outcome was possible, he said, because of the Racial Justice Act, a 2020 California law that prohibits discrimination in the state's criminal justice system based on a defendant's race, ethnicity or national origin.

Justice Kelli Evans, the high court's newest member, wrote in a concurring opinion that "many individuals — including, particularly, people of color — commonly hold a perception that engaging in any manner with police, including in seemingly casual or innocuous ways, entails a degree of risk to one's safety."

Evans listed the names of 35 people killed in interactions with police in recent years, including Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, Stephon Clark, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.

"Due to this searing history and the present day experiences of far too many people in the United States, for generations, legions of parents in minority communities have given their children 'the talk' — detailing survival techniques for how to navigate interactions with police 'all out of fear of how an officer with a gun will react to them,'" Evans wrote. "Given this context, it is apparent why attempting to avoid police officers reflects, for many people, simply a desire to avoid risking injury or death."

The case began when Flores was arrested by LAPD officers in 2019. According to court records, he was standing on the street in what police described as a "known" drug area and "gang hangout" when he noticed the officers driving up, walked around a Nissan parked illegally and "ducked" behind it. The incident was captured on police body cameras.

...continued

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.