The following excerpt is from U.S. v. Muhammad, 463 F.3d 115 (2nd Cir. 2006):
of flight in a high crime area. See Wardlow, 528 U.S. at 124, 120 S.Ct. 673. "[O]fficers are not required to ignore the relevant characteristics of a location in determining whether the circumstances are sufficiently suspicious to warrant further investigation." Id. Moreover, "[h]eadlong flightwhenever it occursis the consummate act of evasion: It is not necessarily indicative of wrongdoing, but it is certainly suggestive of such." Id. An individual approached by an officer who has no reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing may ignore the officer and go about his business, and his refusal to cooperate may not form the basis for his detention. See Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 498, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983). "But unprovoked flight is simply not a mere refusal to cooperate. Flight, by its very nature, is not `going about one's business'; in fact, it is just the opposite." Wardlow, 528 U.S. at 125, 120 S.Ct. 673.
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