State v. Kreis

Even in the absence of a lawful initial seizure, an order may be justified by legally sufficient officer-safety concerns. State v. Wilson, 283 Or App 823, 828-29, 390 P3d 1114, rev den, 361 Or 801 (2017).

Defendant appealed a conviction for interfering with a police officer by refusing to obey a lawful order.  Defendant assigned error to the denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal.  On appeal, Defendant argued, "that the order to turn around and place his hands behind his back was unlawful because there was no warrant and the officers did not have reasonable suspicion that Defendant had committed or was about to commit a crime."  In response, the State argued, "that the order was reasonable in light of officer-safety concerns and, therefore, lawful under a long line of cases."  Even in the absence of a lawful initial seizure, an order may be justified by legally sufficient officer-safety concerns. State v. Wilson, 283 Or App 823, 828-29, 390 P3d 1114, rev den, 361 Or 801 (2017).  The Court held that, based on the holding in Wilson, "it was unnecessary to determine the lawfulness of an initiating encounter in addressing whether an order was permissible based on officer-safety concerns that included the Defendant's behavior in refusing to comply with simple requests."  Affirmed.