Fourth Amendment
In case of pastor arrested while watering flowers, officers can request physical ID, state supreme court rules
The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s stop-and-identify law can be used during a police stop to request a physical ID when answers to identifying questions are met with “incomplete or unsatisfactory” answers. (Photo from Shutterstock)
The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s stop-and-identify law can be used during a police stop to request a physical ID when answers to identifying questions are met with “incomplete or unsatisfactory” answers.
In 2022, Pastor Michael Jennings of Childersburg, Alabama, was watering the flowers of his out-of-town neighbors when police responded to a 911 call placed by another neighbor about a suspicious person.
Jennings, who lived across the street, was asked by the responding officer for identification. He refused and was handcuffed, arrested and charged with obstructing a governmental function, according to coverage by Reason.
While the charges were later dismissed, Jennings filed a civil lawsuit alleging that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated. A district court found the arresting officers immune from civil liability; however, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Atlanta disagreed, citing insufficient probable cause to arrest Jennings.
The Alabama Supreme Court was asked to clarify the stop-and-identify law and responded as follows: “Once an officer has reasonable suspicion to believe that a suspect is committing, has committed or is about to commit a felony or other public offense, [the law] empowers the officer to demand that the suspect disclose his or her name and address in a format that would allow the officer to affirmatively identify the suspect.”
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