Page 24 - TPA Journal September October 2024

Joe C. Tooley, Legal Digest Editor
Joe C. Tooley, Attorneys & Counselors, Rockwall, Texas
www.TooleyLaw.com 972-722-1058

TEXAS POLICE ASSOCIATION

LEGAL DIGEST

September - October 2024

AUTHOR’S NOTE: It is the goal of this submission to extract those portions of relevant appellate
opinions or the syllabus of the legal reporter which bear directly upon law enforcement methods
and provide guidance for officers on an operational level. Much of the information pertaining to
these cases is lifted verbatim from the court opinion or syllabus with independent analysis inserted
as appropriate. Due to clarity for training purposes, the distinction between quotes from the
opinions and inserted analysis is not always identified and legal citations within the opinion are
often omitted. Emphasis is placed upon reported decisions from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

REASONABLE SUSPICION – sufficiency then charged Alvarez with being a felon in posses-
sion, and Alvarez moved to suppress the evidence
During a roundup of gang members with out- against him. The district court denied the motion,
standing warrants, Corpus Christi police were holding the officers had reasonable suspicion for
given information describing one suspect only as the stop. Reasonable suspicion to stop someone
a “Hispanic male” who had “run from officers” on suspected of criminal activity is a low threshold,
a “bicycle with large handlebars” in the “area of but not this low. Our cases require officers to have
Leopard and Up River” at some unspecified time information more specific than “a Hispanic male
in the past. The officers had nothing else—not the who once rode away from police on a bicycle with
suspect’s photo, his age, his build, his clothing, or large handlebars in a particular area,” especially in
any other identifying features. Nor were they told Corpus Christi, Texas. That open-ended descrip-
when the suspect had last been seen in the area. tion would effectively authorize random police
Nor were they told anything about the bicycle stops, something the Fourth Amendment abhors.
other than it had “large handlebars.” Our dissenting colleague sharply disagrees with
our analysis. Post at 1–9. But as we explain below,
Armed with this meager description, the police infra pp. 16–17, nn.6–7, 10, 13, 15–16, the dissent
soon found a person who fit it: Andres Alvarez, is mistaken. We reverse the denial of Alvarez’s
who was riding a bicycle with large handlebars in motion to suppress, vacate his conviction and sen-
the noted area. Alvarez at first ignored the officers, tence, and remand for further proceedings.
but he was soon stopped and a frisk revealed he
had a revolver and ammo. The officers later deter- On July 15, 2019, federal and Texas law enforce-
mined Alvarez was not the Hispanic male on a ment conducted a state-wide “roundup” of known
bicycle they were looking for. The government gang members with outstanding warrants. Officer

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