Commonwealth v. Stawarz

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• surrounding suspected stolen vehicle with four or five cruisers and eight to ten officers was substantial and perhaps extravagant force
• police unlawfully seized individuals where, without probable cause, officers used excessive force without drawing guns
• presence of eight to ten officers, approach of two officers without guns drawn, and blocking movement of suspect’s car constituted an arrest
• reasonable suspicion for stop found when police observed a late 1970’s model Ford LTD automobile about an hour after and a mile and one-half from the place where a similarly described vehicle was reported stolen
• reasonable suspicion for stop where police observed vehicle about an hour after and one and one-half miles from the place where a similarly described vehicle was reported stolen
• court rejected officer’s testimony that purpose was to ascertain whether vehicle was stolen

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).