Case Name: Miriam DONNER, Appellant, v. Vernon HETHERINGTON, the City of Miami, and Appalachian Insurance Company, Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1981-05-26
Citations: 399 So. 2d 1011
Docket Number: Nos. 80-1205, 80-2017
Parties: Miriam DONNER, Appellant, v. Vernon HETHERINGTON, the City of Miami, and Appalachian Insurance Company, Appellees.
Judges: Before BARKDULL, SCHWARTZ and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 399
Pages: 1011–1012

Head Matter:
Miriam DONNER, Appellant, v. Vernon HETHERINGTON, the City of Miami, and Appalachian Insurance Company, Appellees.
Nos. 80-1205, 80-2017.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
May 26, 1981.
Rehearing Denied July 6, 1981.
Arthur J. Morburger, Miami, Miriam Donner, for appellant.
Fowler, White, Burnett, Hurley, Banick & Strickroot and Fred R. Ober and Mike Murphy, Miami, for appellees.
Before BARKDULL, SCHWARTZ and DANIEL S. PEARSON, JJ.

Opinion:
SCHWARTZ, Judge.
For the third time, Ms. Donner appeals from an adverse judgment in her false imprisonment action. For the third time, we reverse. At the retrial required by Donner v. Hetherington, 376 So.2d 404 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979), the trial judge directed a verdict at the conclusion of the plaintiff's case in favor of the defendant Hethering-ton, the Miami police officer who originally took Donner into custody, as well as the city itself, and their insurance carrier. Because of the plaintiff's picketing activities at the Metro Justice Building, Hetherington arrested her without a warrant for a second degree misdemeanor, breach of the peace or disorderly conduct, in violation of Section 877.03, Florida Statutes (1977). Such an arrest may be justified only when the officer reasonably believes that the misdemean- or has been committed in his presence. State v. Outten, 206 So.2d 392 (Fla.1968); City of Miami v. Albro, 120 So.2d 23 (Fla. 3d DCA 1960). Our review of the record below reveals that jury issues were presented both as to (a) whether, when he placed the plaintiff under arrest, Hetherington in fact himself believed that the offense had been committed, see, Spicy v. City of Miami, 280 So.2d 419 (Fla.1973), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1131 (1974); and (b) whether, if so, there was a reasonable basis for that belief in the circumstances he observed. Spicy v. City of Miami, supra; see State v. Saunders, 339 So.2d 641 (Fla.1976); Ciccarelli v. City of Key West, 321 So.2d 472 (Fla. 3d DCA 1975). Accordingly, the judgment below is reversed for still another trial as against the present appellees.
Reversed and remanded.
. Donner v. Hetherington, 370 So.2d 1225 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979) reversed a summary judgment entered in favor of the director of the facility where the plaintiff was taken and confined.
. The case against the remaining defendants— who were involved in the plaintiffs subsequent imprisonment at the Dade County women's jail — proceeded to jury verdict.