Adams v. Williams

Citing Terry, the Court reiterated “so long as [an] officer is entitled to make a forcible stop, and has reason to believe that the suspect is armed and dangerous, he may conduct a weapons search limited in scope to this protective purpose.” Here, the officer relied upon information personally provided to him by a reliable informant. While the information may have been insufficient for an arrest or search warrant, it was reliable enough for the officer’s investigatory stop of the defendant. The defendant was sitting alone, late at night, in a high crime area, and was reportedly carrying narcotics and a weapon by a reliable source. When asked to get out of the vehicle, the defendant remained inside in a position where his movements could not be clearly seen. These facts gave the officer ample reason to fear for his safety and justified the limited intrusion required to obtain the weapon.