Attaway v. State

In Attaway v. State, 236 Ga. App. 307 (511 SE2d 635) (1999), the stop occurred not on private property but on a public street in a subdivision. 236 Ga. App. at 308. The police received reports of a red car driving slowly several times through the neighborhood, and an officer saw and stopped Attaway's red car as it left the subdivision. Id. The officer acknowledged that he initiated the stop of the car only "because it matched the dispatcher's description and because there had been many previous reports of vandalism in the area. He testified that he wanted to see if the driver had any valid reason to be in the neighborhood." Id. The Court held that "driving around a subdivision several times late at night" did not provide an articulable suspicion for a Terry stop. Id. at 309.