United States v. Tony Williams

The government appeals from the district court’s order granting Williams’s motion to suppress evidence of the crack cocaine in his pockets and the firearm in his vehicle. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3731 , and we reverse.

I.

We review de novo an order granting a motion to suppress. See United States v. Crawford, 372 F.3d 1048, 1053 (9th Cir. 2004) (en banc).. “A determination whether there was reasonable suspicion to support an investigatory ‘stop and frisk’ is a mixed question of law and fact, also reviewed de novo.” United States v. Burkett, 612 F.3d 1103, 1106 (9th Cir. 2010). The district court’s factual findings are reviewed for clear error. Crawford, 372 F.3d at 1053 (citing United States v. Hammett, 236 F.3d 1054, 1057-58 (9th Cir. 2001)).

II.

At 4:40 a.m., a person who identified himself as Tony Jones telephoned a Las Vegas police hotline to report an adult, black male sleeping inside a grey Ford Five Hundred car. Jones reported that the man was “known to sell drugs in the area,” did not live in the adjacent apartment complex, and Jones expressed that he “just wanted the person moved out of the area.” Jones provided the operator with his phone…