What Constitutes a Seizure of the Person?

Without a warrant or probable cause, at around 3 a.m. in January, six police officers went to Kaupp’s home. At least three officers entered his room, awoke him, and told him that they wanted him to “go and talk” about a murder. Kaupp replied, “Okay” and was handcuffed and taken out of his house, shoeless and dressed only in his underwear. Kaupp was taken to the murder scene and then to the police station, where he confessed to playing a minor role in the crime. Kaupp’s attorney sought to have Kaupp’s confession suppressed as the fruit of an illegal arrest, but the court ruled that
Kaupp was not arrested until after his confession—he consented to going to the police station by saying, “Okay” and was handcuffed only pursuant to a policy adopted to protect officers when transporting persons in their squad cars. Kaupp was convicted and sentenced to 55 years’ imprisonment.
The Supreme Court overturned the conviction on appeal, finding that Kaupp’s “Okay” was merely an assent to the exercise of police authority, that a reasonable person would not know that the handcuffs were merely for the protection of the officers, and that it cannot seriously be suggested that under the
circumstances a reasonable person would feel free to tell the officers when questioning started that he wanted to go home and go back to bed. [Kaupp v. Texas, 538 U.S. 626 (2003)]