Zahkuan Bailey-Sweeting, aka Zahkuan Sweeting-Bailey v. Massachusetts
FourthAmendment DueProcess CriminalProcedure
Did the pat-frisk of Mr. Bailey-Sweeting violate his right to be free from unreasonable searches under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment?
QUESTION PRESENTED Mr. Zahkuan Bailey-Sweeting was a passenger in a car stopped by three police officers for a minor traffic infraction. At the time of the traffic stop, the officers had received no reports of any criminal activity. Under these circumstances, did the pat-frisk of Mr. Bailey-Sweeting violate his right to be free from unreasonable searches under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment where Mr. Bailey-Sweeting did not do or say anything suspicious, but rather, the police suspected, based only on an admitted “hunch”, that a fellow passenger’s conduct, provoked by a pattern of police harassment, was an effort to distract them? ii