The judgment of the Court of Appeals affirming the trial court holding that a suspect consented to a search of his person and did not withdraw that consent during the course of the search is affirmed.
Constitutional Law — Fourth Amendment — Search and Seizure — Consent
The defendant was stopped at the train station by police officers who suspected that he was a courier of illegal narcotics. He did not leave, although he was not immediately placed under arrest. He acted in a suspicious manner and gave inconsistent answers to questions asked him. He was arrested and eventually convicted of possession of illegal narcotics. He appeals.
1. A voluntary or consensual encounter between a police officer and a citizen does not implicate the Fourth Amendment as long as a reasonable person would understand that he or she could refuse to cooperate.
PER CURIAM.
In this case, we awarded appellant an appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeals holding that the trial court did not err in ruling (1) that the appellant consented to a search of his person for the purpose of determining whether he possessed any illegal narcotics, and (2) that he did not withdraw that consent during the course of the search. Lawrence v. Commonwealth, 17 Va. App. 140, 435 S.E.2d 591 (1993).
We have considered the questions, and for the reasons stated in the opinion of the Court of Appeals, we will affirm the judgment below.
Affirmed.