Tamaran Edward Bontemps v. United States
FourthAmendment CriminalProcedure
Whether a sweatshirt bulge alone gives an objectively reasonable and particularized suspicion to stop a person under Terry v. Ohio
QUESTION PRESENTED Police seized Mr. Bontemps, a young Black man, when he was walking on a sidewalk with three other young Black men. The police had received no background reports of any criminal activity. The officer stopped Mr. Bontemps midafternoon and in a general mixed area. The reasonable suspicion standard of Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 16 (1968), requires the police to have had an objective and particularized basis to believe that Bontemps had committed or was about to commit a crime. Does a sweatshirt bulge alone give an objectively reasonable and particularized suspicion to stop Bontemps? i