DISCLAIMER: Any unofficial case summaries below are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
064046P.pdf 04/04/2008 Richard Stufflebeam v. Jeff W. Harris
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 06-4046
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - Fayetteville
[PUBLISHED] [Loken, Author, with Gruender and Benton, Circuit Judges]
Civil case - civil rights. Arkansas law does not permit a police officer
to arrest a person for refusing to identify himself when he is not suspected
of other criminal activity and his identification is not needed to protect
officer safety or to resolve whatever reasonable suspicion
prompted the officer to initiate an on-going traffic stop or a Terry stop; as
a result, the district court erred in dismissing plaintiff's Section 1983
claim; additionally, the arresting officer was not entitled to qualified
immunity as the officer acted contrary to the plain meaning of the Rule
2.2 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure, and no reasonable
officer could believe he had cause to arrest plaintiff.