In State v. Nyema, following the denial of his suppression motion, the defendant pleaded guilty to robbery. On appeal, Nyema argued that the police did not have reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle in which he rode. The New Jersey Appellate Division agreed and reversed. At the suppression hearing, the arresting officer testified that, after he was advised two black men had robbed a store, he used a spotlight mounted to his car to illuminate the interiors of passing vehicles as he traveled to the store. In one car, he observed three black men who did not react to the light. The officer stopped the car based on those observations. The Court held that these facts did not establish a reasonable articulable suspicion that the men in the car had robbed the store.
