On Reasonable Suspicion: The Dangerous Urges of ‘Big Baby’ Anderson

Would you like to take a ride?

You better fasten your car properly because there are a few things you need to pay attention to before turning on the car’s ignition. If you plan to drive while black or Hispanic, you are much more likely to become a “reasonable” suspect (which doesn’t matter), be stopped, searched, and even arrested. Heavyweight boxing phenom Jared “Big Baby” Anderson discovered this unfortunate fact the hard way.

Anderson lives and trains in Houston, Texas, but is originally from Toledo, Ohio, where he will occasionally visit, such as last November 2023. Anderson was born in Toledo, Ohio… Ohio is also the birthplace of Terry v .Ohio – the landmark lawsuit that gave rise to the phrase Terry stop.

Terry v. Ohio (1968) was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that has had profound and lasting effects on the rights granted to citizens by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. In Terry v. Ohio, the Court ruled that it is constitutional for police to “stop and frisk” a person they suspect is armed and has criminal intent – ​​even if there is no probable cause to do so.

(Do you see where this is going?)

Terry established the constitutionality of a limited search, of anyone, for weapons when a police officer has reasonable suspicion – based on the circumstances – that a crime has occurred on the job. The Court held that a police officer’s interest in the safety of himself and others outweighs an individual’s Fourth Amendment right.

Even though not every judge on that panel agreed with the Court’s ruling.

The Court’s dissent was: “A magistrate must determine probable cause before issuing a warrant. Allowing a police officer to conduct a search and seizure based on reasonable suspicion gives an officer more authority than a judge and is inappropriate.”

Probable cause is a reasonable belief based on facts.

Reasonable suspicion is virtually anything an officer personally considers suspicious.
What portion of the U.S. population do you reasonably think is most suspicious?

Anderson knew nothing about the intricacies of Fourth Amendment rights and Terry quit when he visited Ohio on November 6, 2023. He simply drove down the highway in his bright orange Dodge Challenger and took in the locations of his home state. Moreover, he said, “I didn’t do anything.” But he was already guilty of the most devastating of all crimes: driving while black. It wasn’t long before a law enforcement officer spied on him. Based on reasonable suspicion, Anderson was stopped, detained and searched.

During the search of Anderson’s Dodge, the officer found a gun. Once the search for Terry was over, the boxer was arrested and charged with possession of a firearm and driving under the influence (DUI).

That stop should have taught Anderson a valuable lesson… but it became a matter of fool me once, fool me twice…

On February 29, 2024, Big Baby decides to take another cruise up the highway and through Huron Charter Township in Wayne County, about 25 miles southwest of Detroit, Michigan. The problem for a black motorist driving through Huron Charter Township is that the township has a population of about 31,000 and 95% are white. So a black driver in an orange muscle car will be extremely striking, to say the least.

There was Anderson, driving 70 miles per hour in his Dodge Challenger, driving Black in a lily white town. A police officer saw ‘Big Baby’ and ‘Big Baby’ saw the police officer. Anderson said he was “emotional” as he put his car’s pedal to the metal, reaching speeds of more than 130mph. He eluded Huron Township highway patrol three times before losing control of the Dodge and crashing harmlessly into the mud.

So why did “Big Baby” run from the police at the second encounter?

Anderson may have known from his home state of Texas what could happen if an officer stops you for the second time and you are already on the police radar. Texas data on motor vehicle stops and subsequent arrests is cause for concern.

The Texas Department of Public Safety published its Statewide Motor Vehicle Stop Data Report in 2022. This report provides indisputable data detailing the glaring disparity in DPS Troopers’ practices in stopping, frisking, and subsequent arrests of motorists.

From January 1 through December 31, 2022, Texas law enforcement officers conducted a total of 1,671,833 vehicle stops, which were then categorized by race and ethnicity, as well as actions taken after the stop. Nearly 90% of those stops occurred on highways.

Of those stops, whites represented 38.39% of the total, Hispanics represented 48.56% of the stops, and black people accounted for 11% of the total stops.

This DPS data may not mean much until you weigh the number of stops (and the racial distribution of those stops) against the state’s demographic makeup. While Hispanics make up 40% of the population, they represent 46% of all arrests resulting from stops. And blacks, who make up only 12% of the population, are the subject of 20% of total arrests after checks by law enforcement.

Whites, who also make up 40% of Texas’ population, are only responsible for 33% of all arrests resulting from vehicle stops.

Law enforcement officers can conduct warning stops and did so 1,101,039 times in 2022. Hispanics made up 48% of the total, whites received 41% of those warnings – but black drivers were warned without action only 9% of the time.

Of the 17,533 arrests made for the citations, whites were taken to jail 33% of the time, Hispanics were handcuffed 46% and black incarcerations made up 20% of the total.

Because it is their right to do so, as determined in Terry, officers chose to search blacks and Hispanics 70% of the times they stopped. These citizens consented only 75% of the time, and blacks and Hispanics were arrested about 75% of the time.

There are times when an officer deems it necessary to use force against a motorist. The officers found it necessary 75% of the time with blacks and Hispanics.

According to the DPS report, police officers claim to have little to no knowledge of the driver’s race or ethnicity during those stops. Although, after the sun sets – and it is much more difficult to determine the race of the drivers – the number of blacks stopped on reasonable suspicion and subsequently arrested decreases significantly.

Given the disproportionality in the number of stops that blacks and Hispanics make first when various forms of contraband are discovered. These two races together are responsible for 69% of weapons seized, 88% of currency seized, and 72% of currency seized.
In a national survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (November 2023 letter), whites were named as the top abusers of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and opioids at a higher rate than any other race. So it would make sense that whites would be subjected to the most Terry stops. Terry Stops are a byproduct of the war on drugs that began in the 1980s.

The November 2023 “driving while black” incident, in which the gun was found on Anderson, was only a misdemeanor under Ohio law, and “Big Baby” was fined $200 and given a 180-day suspended sentence. However, both charges were ultimately dismissed.

Now Big Baby is facing charges that are much more serious. During the ‘driving while Black’ incident of February 2024, the boxer committed a cardinal sin for blacks and Hispanics. He fled from the police. That’s a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine and/or a possible five-year prison sentence.

Once again, Anderson would have to face a magistrate, but this time it will be a prison sentence and the loss of his career at stake. (A court appearance for his recent charges is still pending.)

The war on drugs of the 1980s and the end of Terry created a vicious cycle that has proven inescapable for blacks and Hispanics.

Police take to the streets with the deep-seated reasonable suspicion that drugs will undoubtedly be found among blacks and Hispanics. This suspicion means that a disproportionate number of these categories of citizens are caught with some form of contraband. The disproportionality then leads to more of them being arrested, prosecuted, convicted and ultimately imprisoned with harsher sentences. Now for the officer the reasonable suspicion is justified and the end justifies the means. Now that the officer believes that his actions are justified, a profile has been created and this results in more arrests of the profiled persons.

Ironically, a recent ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) report notes that the largest suppliers of illegal drugs and weapons are not black or Hispanic, but white. Yet black people alone are responsible for approximately 43% of contraband trafficking.

On another lane of the same highway, a white motorist slips under the radar simply because he doesn’t fit the profile. Fewer whites are stopped and therefore fewer whites are caught with some form of contraband. If a white driver is pulled over, he is more likely to receive a warning – and less likely to be stopped, searched or arrested.

These practices and unfounded suspicions are why blacks and Hispanics are reluctant to cooperate with police during criminal investigations… And that is why “Big Baby” tested the speed of his orange Dodge Challenger through the highways and byways of Huron Charter Township