THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA In The Supreme Court The State, Petitioner, v. Eric Terrell Spears, Respondent. Appellate Case No. 2017-001933 ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS Appeal from Richland County Robert E. Hood, Circuit Court Judge Opinion No. 27945 Heard January 30, 2019 – Filed February 12, 2020 REVERSED Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson, Senior Assistant Attorney General David A. Spencer, and Interim Solicitor Heather Savitz Weiss, all of Columbia, for Petitioner. Appellate Defender LaNelle Cantey DuRant, of Columbia, for Respondent. JUSTICE JAMES: Eric Terrell Spears was indicted for trafficking crack cocaine between ten and twenty-eight grams. Spears moved to suppress the evidence of the drugs seized from his person on the ground he was seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The trial court denied the motion to suppress, and Spears was convicted as charged. The trial court sentenced Spears to thirty years in prison. A divided court of appeals reversed Spears' conviction. State v. Spears, 420 S.C. 363, 802 S.E.2d 803 (Ct. App. 2017). We granted the State's petition for a writ of certiorari to review the court of appeals' decision. We now reverse the court of appeals and uphold Spears' conviction. We hold there is evidence in the record to support the trial court's finding that Spears engaged in a consensual encounter with law enforcement and that Spears' subsequent actions created a reasonable suspicion that he may have been armed and dangerous—justifying law enforcement's Terry1 frisk that led to the discovery of the offending crack cocaine in Spears' pants. I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY Law enforcement officers from Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the Lexington and Richland County Sheriffs’ Offices were investigating a tip that two black males (Tyrone Richardson and Eric Bradley) were transporting drugs into South Carolina via one of the "Chinese bus lines." These bus lines depart from the Chinatown district in New York City, dropping off passengers in major cities along the East Coast. Because of the lack of security measures and required identification, these buses are frequently exploited by wanted criminals and people trafficking in narcotics and counterfeit merchandise. There are no traditional bus stations for the "Chinese bus line"; the buses usually stop at a couple of different locations in Columbia to allow passengers to disembark. On March 29, 2012, Agents Dennis Tracy, Briton Lorenzen, and Frank Finch were dispatched, pursuant to the tip, to conduct surveillance at one of the bus stops. As the passengers were exiting the bus, most of the passengers were being greeted by relatives or friends, being picked up by cabs, or talking on the phone (presumably making arrangements to be picked up). However, the agents observed a man and a woman with four large suitcases who "stuck out" because "they were paying an excess amount of attention" to the plain-clothed agents. A few minutes later, the man and woman began walking down the road away from the agents. The agents followed, and while walking briskly behind ...
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