Denishio Johnson v. Curtis Vanderkooi

Summary

The Michigan Supreme Court held that fingerprinting a person during an investigative stop is a Fourth Amendment search because it physically intrudes on the person’s body to obtain identifying information. The Grand Rapids Police Department’s photograph-and-print policy was facially unconstitutional because it authorized unreasonable warrantless fingerprint searches that exceeded the permissible scope and duration of a Terry stop. The court reversed and remanded Johnson’s case to the trial court and Harrison’s case to the Court of Appeals for consideration of whether Harrison voluntarily consented to fingerprinting.