No. 23-1676 ___________________________

United States of America

Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Nathaniel Crawford

Defendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the District of South Dakota - Southern ____________

Submitted: October 20, 2023 Filed: February 16, 2024 ____________ Before SMITH, Chief Judge, LOKEN and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges. ____________ SMITH, Chief Judge.

Nathaniel Crawford and his ex-girlfriend had a domestic dispute in the parking lot of an apartment complex. The dispute was heated, prompting concerned residents to call 911 and report that Crawford was threatening to shoot a person, shoot at a person’s home, or burn down the complex. An officer was dispatched to the scene, but by the time she arrived, Crawford had fled. The officer spoke with the ex-girlfriend and advised her to call 911 if Crawford returned. Later that night, Crawford returned and threatened his ex-girlfriend with a firearm. She called 911, and Crawford fled again. Multiple officers rushed to the scene, canvassed the area, and found Crawford and his vehicle in a nearby parking lot. Crawford did not have a firearm on his person, and he refused the officers’ request for consent to search his vehicle. Two officers went to the vehicle, peered through the windows, and saw a wooden object protruding from the center console. Based on its appearance, they inferred that the protrusion was the grip of the reported firearm. The officers took Crawford’s keys, unlocked and entered the vehicle, opened the center console, and found the firearm inside.

Following these events, the federal government charged Crawford with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), based on his prior felony and misdemeanor domestic violence convictions. Crawford moved to suppress the firearm, arguing that officers lacked probable cause to search his vehicle. The district court1 denied the motion, Crawford entered a conditional guilty plea, and he now appeals. We agree with the district court that the 911 calls, the statements of the ex-girlfriend, and the wooden object established probable cause for a vehicle search. We thus affirm the denial of the motion to suppress.

I. Background Around 8:00 p.m., emergency operators began to receive 911 calls, which reported a domestic dispute in the parking lot of an apartment complex. A caller reported that a man and woman were arguing and that the man was threatening to shoot someone or shoot at someone’s home. An officer was dispatched to the scene. While the officer was en route, another 911 caller reported that a man, arguing with

1 The Honorable Karen E. Schreier, United States District Judge for the District of South Dakota, adopting the report and recommendation, as modified, of the Honorable Veronica L. Duffy, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of South Dakota.

-2- neighbors, had threatened to burn down the building. Then, he drove away at a high speed.

When the dispatched officer arrived at the complex, she met and spoke with the woman mentioned in the earlier 911 call as arguing with a man. The woman, Christina Bryant, identified the man as Nathaniel Crawford. Bryant told the officer that Crawford was her ex-boyfriend and that he had previously attacked her with a metal pipe. That night, Bryant and Crawford had been arguing again before Crawford sped away in his vehicle