Fed appeals court says refusal to identify no cause for arrest

[flashl]

Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK - A police officer does not have the authority to arrest someone for refusing to identify himself when he is not suspected of committing a crime, a federal appeals panel ruled Friday.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis reversed an Arkansas federal judge's ruling and ordered a new hearing in a Benton County man's lawsuit challenging his arrest for refusing to show his identification during a traffic stop.

"It is amazing how many times I have had people convicted for doing the same thing," said Rogers attorney Doug Norwood. "You have to have a reasonable suspicion that the individual person is either committing a crime or about to."

...

Stufflebeam was a passenger in his grandson's car in May 2003 when the vehicle was stopped by a state trooper. The driver was not issued a citation during the traffic stop. When Trooper Jeff W. Harris asked the grandfather for identification, he told the officer he did not have to show any ID.

Arkansas News Bureau

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Stufflebeam? Wasn't that the name of the kid who spotted a mistake ...

at the Smithsonian?

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/04/oops-smithsonia.html