Case Name: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jan W. JACKSON, Defendant-Appellant
Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1981-06-15
Citations: 652 F.2d 244
Docket Number: No. 756, Docket 80-1423
Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jan W. JACKSON, Defendant-Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: Federal Reporter 2d Series
Volume: 652
Pages: 244–255

Head Matter:
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Jan W. JACKSON, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 756, Docket 80-1423.
United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.
Argued Feb. 3, 1981.
Decided June 15, 1981.
Wesley L. Taylor, Jr., Buffalo, N. Y., for defendant-appellant.
Cheryl S. Fisher, Asst. U. S. Atty., W. D. N. Y., Buffalo, N. Y. (Richard J. Arcara, U. S. Atty., W. D. N. Y., Buffalo, N. Y., of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee.
Before WATERMAN, MANSFIELD and MESKILL, Circuit Judges.

Opinion:
MESKILL, Circuit Judge:
Jan Jackson appeals from a judgment of conviction for bank larceny in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(b) (1976) entered in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, Curtin, Ch. J. Appellant pled guilty following the denial of his motion to suppress certain evidence, reserving his right to challenge on appeal the denial of his suppression motion. He was sentenced to a prison term of nine years.
Appellant drove the getaway car in a holdup of a branch of the Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company (M & T Bank) in Buffalo, New York on March 4, 1980. After he was apprehended, a search of the car's trunk revealed a revolver, M & T Bank wrappers and appellant's accomplice, Edward Dixon, who had actually robbed the bank. Appellant argues that the search of the trunk and his arrest were illegal and that therefore the evidence discovered in the trunk and any statements made subsequently should be suppressed. We affirm Judge Curtin's denial of the suppression motion.
BACKGROUND
The evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the government, as it must be in reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, United States v. Oates, 560 F.2d 45, 49 (2d Cir. 1977); see United States v. Vital-Padilla, 500 F.2d 641, 642-43 (9th Cir. 1974); United States v. Walling, 486 F.2d 229, 236 (9th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 923, 94 S.Ct. 1427, 39 L.Ed.2d 479 (1974), is as follows.
About 10:00 a. m. on March 4,1980, the M & T Bank alarm sounded in the 17th precinct house of the Buffalo, New York, Po lice Department. It took Detective Sergeant Coyle and his partner, Detective Morrison, about one minute to drive to the bank on the corner of Hertel Avenue and Park-side Avenue. Coyle entered the bank and received a description of the robber as a black male in his twenties with a medium "afro," approximately six feet tall, weighing 150 pounds, and wearing a light brown coat, matching hat and a grey sweater. He also learned that the robber had gone north on Parkside Avenue on foot about twenty seconds before Coyle arrived. Coyle relayed the information to Detective Young who joined him at the bank, and together with Detective Morrison they drove their unmarked car slowly north on Parkside Avenue looking for the robber. Morrison drove, with Coyle riding in the passenger seat and Young sitting in the rear. After the detectives had proceeded a short way, Young yelled to Morrison to turn the ear around because he had seen someone who might be a suspect in the bank robbery. Young had observed a Dodge Coronet stopped in traffic, heading south on Park-side and thus from the vicinity to which the robber had fled. Young testified that the driver of the Coronet appeared to be a black male in his twenties with a medium afro and a tan coat. The Dodge was stopped in traffic near the bank and Young thought it was suspicious that the driver kept staring straight ahead, deliberately ignoring the commotion caused by the many police cars near the bank. The officers radioed a short description of the Dodge and its driver and asked that it be stopped for investigation. By the time they turned around, a maneuver which had to be accomplished in heavy traffic, the Dodge was already at least two to three hundred feet ahead of them. They finally lost sight of the Dodge about three-quarters of a mile from the bank. Fortunately, another squad car almost immediately radioed that they had spotted the Dodge and pulled it over at a street corner about two miles from the bank. Coyle and his companions proceeded directly to the scene and found the driver already outside his car conversing with the officers.
Coyle approached the driver and asked him his name and where he was coming from. The driver said his name was Jan Jackson and that "he was coming from Hertel Avenue, dropping his mother off." (Tr. 8). This response probably aroused Coyle's suspicion, since Coyle knew that Jackson had not dropped anyone off when he drove down Parkside past Hertel. Coyle did notice, however, that Jackson did not entirely fit the description of the robber. Although the driver was a black male in his twenties with a medium afro and was about six feet tall, he was about fifty pounds heavier than the described thief, and significantly, his clothing differed from that of the reported robber. Appellant's coat, which had looked tannish from a distance, appeared on closer examination to be a light grey tweed; his sweater was green instead of grey; he was not wearing a tan hat. Coyle wondered if Jackson had changed his clothes, as do many robbers immediately after a holdup. He circled Jackson's ear looking for clothing and other clues. As he passed the trunk, he noticed that its lock had been punched out and was missing. At the same time, he heard a noise which "sounded like it was in the trunk, like a tire fell, movement in the trunk, a thump." (Tr. 20). After hearing the thump, Coyle asked Jackson how he got into his trunk and Jackson replied that he did not get into his trunk. Judge Curtin found that by this time, Coyle had probable cause to search the trunk.
More police had arrived and several officers joined Coyle in what proved to be a considerable effort to open the trunk. After initial attempts to jimmy the lock with a screwdriver proved unavailing, one of the officers spotted a wriggling finger inside the lock hole. An officer's shouted order ended the finger's efforts to push the screwdriver aside and the trunk came open. In the trunk was Edward Dixon, a black male in his twenties wearing a grey sweater, a light tan coat, and a matching hat atop a medium afro. A frisk yielded a revolver and some bank slips from an M & T Bank. Jackson and Dixon were then arrested for the bank robbery. Later that day at police headquarters, both men confessed.
DISCUSSION
On this appeal, Jackson claims that the evidence discovered in the trunk and his subsequent confession were fruits of an illegal arrest and search. If, as Jackson claims, the evidence and confession were so derived, then they would indeed have to be excluded. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963). Our review of the events surrounding the stop and subsequent search, however, does not reveal any unlawful conduct. We therefore affirm for the reasons stated below.
A. The Legality of the Stop
At the outset, we agree with the appellant that there was no probable cause to arrest the driver of the Dodge Coronet at the time that that vehicle was stopped. The government contends, however, that the detention was an investigative stop for which probable cause was not necessary. See Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). An investigative stop is legal only if it is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 50, 99 S.Ct. 2637, 2640, 61 L.Ed.2d 357 (1979); Terry v. Ohio, supra. In determining the reasonableness of a Terry stop, a reviewing court must examine both "the basis for the stop and the degree to which the stop restrains the individual." United States v. Vasquez, 638 F.2d 507, 520 (2d Cir. 1980). We examine these factors in turn.
1. The Basis for the Stop
The Supreme Court has approved investigative stops of automobiles based upon an officer's "reasonable suspicion" that criminal activity is afoot. Terry v. Ohio, supra. As the Supreme Court has explained:
In Terry this Court recognized that "a police officer may in appropriate circumstances and in an appropriate manner approach a person for purposes of investigating possibly criminal behavior even though there is no probable cause to make an arrest." The Fourth Amendment does not require a policeman who lacks the precise level of information necessary for probable cause to arrest to simply shrug his shoulders and allow a crime to occur or a criminal to escape. On the contrary, Terry recognizes that it may be the essence of good police work to adopt an intermediate response. A brief stop of a suspicious individual, in order to determine his identity or to maintain the status quo momentarily while obtaining more information, may be most reasonable in light of the facts known to the officer at the time.
Adams v. Williams, supra, 407 U.S. at 145-46, 92 S.Ct. at 1922-1923 (citations omitted). The police must, however, be "aware of specific articulable facts, together with rational inferences from those facts, that reasonably warrant suspicion" that the suspect is engaged in criminal activity. United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. 873, 884, 95 S.Ct. 2574, 2581, 45 L.Ed.2d 607 (1975). The decision to order an investigative stop of the Dodge meets this objective test because Coyle and his companions were aware of a number of facts which reasonably warranted the suspicion that the driver of the Dodge was the bank robber.
Detective Young's initial observation revealed that the age, race, hairstyle, and coat color of the driver all appeared to match the description of the robber. Although closer observation of Jackson during the investigative stop indicated that he was not wearing the exact clothing ascribed to the robber, Judge Curtin properly found that Young had reasonably believed that the driver fit the description of the robber. Furthermore, the Dodge was coming from the direction in which the robber had fled on foot less than five minutes before. And finally, the driver acted suspiciously, strangely intent upon ignoring the tumult created by the police activity near the bank. All these factors created a reasonable suspicion that the driver was linked to the robbery. See United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, supra, 422 U.S. at 884-85, 95 S.Ct. at 2581-2582; United States v. Hall, 557 F.2d 1114, 1116-17 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 907, 98 S.Ct. 308, 54 L.Ed.2d 195 (1977); United States v. Santana, 485 F.2d 365, 368 (2d Cir. 1973), cert, denied, 415 U.S. 931, 94 S.Ct. 1444, 39 L.Ed.2d 490 (1974). Thus, it was entirely appropriate for the Dodge to be pulled over for an investigation.
2. The Reasonableness of the Restraints
Appellant argues that the restraints imposed during the stop of his vehicle exceeded the bounds of an investigatory stop, contending that such conduct is permissible only in the context of a legal arrest. Therefore, appellant argues, since the detention was neither a legal Terry stop nor a legal arrest, the confession must be suppressed. We find this contention to be without merit.
To convince us that an illegal arrest, and not a Terry stop, occurred, appellant relies heavily on the fact that one of the two officers who made the stop drew his gun as his partner approached Jackson's car. But we do not find it unreasonable for a policeman to draw his gun when he approaches a car whose driver may be an escaping armed bank robber. Although the drawing of a weapon may be a significant factor in determining whether a suspect is under arrest, it is not dispositive of the issue. See United States v. Oates, supra, 560 F.2d at 57; United States v. Beck, 598 F.2d 497, 501 (9th Cir. 1979). In this case, although Officer Smardz had his revolver out of its holster, ready in case of trouble, nothing in the record indicates that he ever pointed it at Jackson. Cf. United States v. Vasquez, supra, 638 F.2d at 522 (arrest did not occur until the moment when officers leveled their guns at the occupants of the car). He returned the gun to its holster as soon as his partner's frisk of Jackson ensured that he was not armed. More important, an officer who decides to draw his gun, like an officer who decides to frisk a suspect, "need not be absolutely certain that the individual [he approaches] is armed; the issue is whether a reasonably prudent man in the circumstances would be warranted in the belief that his safety or that of others was in danger." Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at 27, 88 S.Ct. at 1883. This belief that the suspect may be armed and dangerous "can be predicated on the nature of the criminal activity involved." United States v. Oates, supra, 560 F.2d at 62. An officer approaching a suspected bank robber could reasonably infer from the nature of the crime that the suspect may well be armed and dangerous. Indeed, in this case, the subsequent search of Dixon yielded a revolver. Under these circumstances, Smardz and his partner were fully justified in the measures taken to protect themselves.
To allow such protective measures to transform an investigative stop into an arrest would create a dangerous dilemma for the police officer in those situations, like this one, where suspicion does not rise to the level of probable cause. If the officer approaches a suspected robber with his gun still in his holster, he increases the risk that he will be shot. If, on the other hand, he protects himself by drawing his gun, he increases the risk that.a court will set the criminal free by construing his action as an illegal arrest. We decline to impose such a Hobson's Choice on our law enforcement personnel. Sadly, it is as true today as when Terry was decided that:
Certainly it would be unreasonable to require that police officers take unnecessary risks in the performance of their duties. American criminals have a long tradition of armed violence, and every year in this country many law enforcement officers are killed in the line of duty, and thousands more are wounded.
Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at 23, 88 S.Ct. at 1881.
Having rejected the argument that Smardz's drawn gun shows that Jackson was under arrest, we see no significant differences between the police conduct here and the conduct which occurs in any investigative stop. For example, there is no showing that Jackson was handcuffed or told that he was under arrest. Instead, the record shows that Jackson was detained but a few minutes waiting for Coyle to arrive and continue the investigation. Coyle, of course, had every right to ask Jackson his name and what he had been doing, for "the right to interrogate during a 'stop' is the essence of Terry and its progeny." United States v. Oates, supra, 560 F.2d at 63. Probable cause to search the trunk developed almost immediately after Coyle's arrival and, at that point, Jackson obviously had to be detained until the police determined if there was indeed someone hiding in the trunk. Our examination of the police conduct thus reveals that the restraints on Jackson's freedom were reasonable in light of the basis which the officers had for making the stop.
3. Effect of Smardz's Belief
The only remaining question concerning the legality of the stop is whether Smardz's subjective belief that his partner had placed Jackson under arrest soon after the frisk is sufficient to convert an otherwise valid Terry stop into an arrest. Because the objective conduct of the police was consistent with an investigative stop, we decline to find that an arrest occurred solely because of Smardz's subjective belief. Objective rather than subjective factors govern the propriety of both stops and arrests. United States v. Oates, supra, 560 F.2d at 58; United States v. Vital-Padilla, supra, 500 F.2d at 644. See Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at 21, 88 S.Ct. at 1879 ("it is imperative [when assessing the propriety of stops and arrests] that the facts be judged against an objective standard"). United States v. Oates, supra, supports our reasoning. In that case the accused, Oates, was removed by several police officers from a line of passengers who were waiting for an airplane. He was taken to an airport office for questioning. In the office, additional evidence was developed against him and he was formally arrested. Oates claimed that he had been under arrest from the moment that he was removed from the line of passengers. The government, however, claimed that Oates initially had been subjected to an investigative stop and that the arrest had not occurred until he was in the office. An analysis of the objective factors convinced our Court that the government was correct. Oates urged, however, that "crucial importance" should be given to the subjective beliefs of one of the investigating officers who apparently had decided to arrest Oates even before he was removed from the line. Applying an objective standard, we ruled that even if that officer thought that his fellow officers were arresting Oates, "this subjective belief . . would not affect the validity of the detention instituted independently by [his fellow officers] if all the circumstances, viewed objectively and apart from what [the officer may have thought], disclose that the detention was a stop and not in fact an arrest." Id. at 58 (citations omitted). Similarly, in this case Smardz's belief that Jackson was under arrest does not change our conclusion, based upon the objective actions taken, that Jackson was subjected only to an investigative stop prior to the opening of the car trunk. It follows from this conclusion that Jackson was not arrested until after Dixon was found in the trunk and that Jackson's arrest was therefore legal.
B. Probable Cause to Search the Trunk
Tffe general rule, of course, is that warrantless searches are unconstitutional. Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 454-55, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 2031-2032, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971). But the Supreme Court has long recognized the need to permit some warrantless searches of vehicles because of their mobility and the ease with which evidence hidden in them may be removed. See Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 153, 45 S.Ct. 280, 285, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925). Thus, the warrantless search of the car's trunk was legal only if the police had probable cause to believe that the vehicle contained evidence of a crime. Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 48, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 1979,26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970); Carroll v. United States, supra, 267 U.S. at 153, 45 S.Ct. at 285.
We have no difficulty agreeing with Judge Curtin's finding that Coyle had probable cause to search the trunk. A number of objective facts indicated that evidence of the holdup was in the trunk. First, there were the facts which had initially created Coyle's suspicion that Jackson was involved in the bank robbery: the driver of the Dodge generally matched the description of the robber and had acted suspiciously while driving past the bank. Additional facts developed once Coyle arrived at the scene of the stopped car and continued the investigation. Jackson's answer to Coyle's query about what he had been doing was unconvincing. Although he said that he was coming from Hertel Avenue after dropping his mother off, the officers had seen him drive right past Hertel Avenue without dropping anyone off. After Coyle got a good look at Jackson, he discovered that, except for Jackson's clothing and weight, he fit the description of the robber quite closely. Jackson's height, age, race, and hairstyle all fit the description. At this point, it was entirely reasonable to look into and around Jackson's car for the clothing worn by the robber. See United States v. Vasquez, supra, 638 F.2d at 521 ("each action taken [by police] was reasonable in light of what had gone before"). While Coyle was passing the trunk, he noticed that the lock had been punched out and he heard a thump "like a tire fell, movement in the trunk." Coyle's testimony on this point is corroborated by a remark in Dixon's confession which shows that he was trying to hide the stolen money in the wheel well at about the time that Coyle was near the trunk. After hearing the thump, Coyle asked Jackson how he got into his trunk and Jackson gave the incredible response that he never did. We do not hesitate to conclude, as did Judge Curtin, that by the time Jackson made this reply, if not earlier, there was probable cause to search the trunk. Therefore, since the search of Jackson's trunk was legal, the fruits of that search — Dixon's presence in the trunk, the items in his possession, and the subsequent confessions of both men — were admissible into evidence.
CONCLUSION
We conclude that the police had reasonable suspicion to pull over appellant's car and that in so doing they did not unreasonably restrain him. The initial apprehension was therefore a valid investigative stop and not an illegal arrest. During the course of that investigatory stop, facts developed which gave the officers probable cause to search the trunk, after which point the police had probable cause to arrest the suspects. Thus, the evidence discovered in the trunk and the confessions derived therefrom were not products of an illegal arrest or search. We therefore affirm the denial of appellant's motion to suppress.
Affirmed.
. Dixon did not join this appeal, although he moved below for the suppression of his confession and the fruits of the search. He pled guilty to bank robbery in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a) (1976) and was sentenced to a term of nine years.
. Young conducted a search of the front seat of Jackson's car. The legality of this search was not determined below and need not be decided here because it did not yield any evidence against Jackson.
. The officers who responded, Smardz and his partner, had the same right to stop the Dodge as did Coyle and his companions. Whiteley v. Warden, 401 U.S. 560, 568, 91 S.Ct. 1031, 1037, 28 L.Ed.2d 306 (1971). Under the circumstances here, pulling the Dodge over was an intermediate response that was "the essence of good police work." Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 145, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 1922, 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972).
. Nothing in the record reveals how the police indicated to Jackson that he should pull over. Therefore, we cannot evaluate the reasonableness of the manner in which this was done. Presumably, Jackson's defense counsel would have brought out at the suppression hearing any facts favorable to his client.
. Judge Curtin did not base his finding of probable cause to search the trunk on this statement by Jackson. He did not think that Coyle could necessarily conclude that Jackson was lying about dropping his mother off because Jackson's statement might only have meant that he had dropped his mother off somewhere near Hertel Avenue. Nevertheless, we believe that his somewhat suspicious reply to Coyle enhances the strength of Judge Curtin's conclusion that Coyle's reasonable suspicions about Jackson were sufficient to justify the investigative stop.
. It is, of course, irrelevant that probable cause arose in the course of an investigatory stop which was originally based on reasonable suspicion. United States v. Oates, supra, 560 F.2d at 63. Indeed, even if Coyle had already planned to search the trunk before probable cause arose, the search would be lawful because, at the moment that the search began, there was probable cause to search it. United States v. Oates, supra, 560 F.2d at 57-58; United States v. Laird, 511 F.2d 1039, 1040 (9th Cir. 1975) (per curiam).
It makes no difference that an important fact establishing probable cause was a noise. Probable cause can be established by a suspicious sound as it can be by a suspicious smell or appearance, see, e. g., United States v. Cantu, 548 F.2d 1243, 1244 (5th Cir. 1977) (per curiam) (smell of marijuana creating probable cause); United States v. Laird, 511 F.2d 1039, 1040 (9th Cir. 1975) (per curiam) (same). In United States v. Butler, 533 F.2d 221, 223 (5th Cir. 1976) , narcotics officers relied upon the sound of a blender to help establish probable cause to conduct a warrantless search of a hotel room. The officers suspected that the blender had been used to cut cocaine or heroin.
. We believe that our dissenting brother misreads the record as to the sequence of events and the time that elapsed between the stopping of the Dodge and the sound of the thump.