Case Name: Sheila McNEIL, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1995-05-26
Citations: 656 So. 2d 1320
Docket Number: No. 94-1375
Parties: Sheila McNEIL, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: GRIFFIN, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 656
Pages: 1320–1323

Head Matter:
Sheila McNEIL, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 94-1375.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
May 26, 1995.
Rehearing Denied July 11, 1995.
James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Daniel J. Schafer, Asst. Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Kellie A. Nielan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Daytona Beach, for appellee.

Opinion:
HARRIS, Chief Judge.
Sheila L. McNeil, a passenger in a vehicle stopped for a traffic infraction, appeals her conviction for a drug offense based on cocaine found in her purse when a dog sniffing for narcotics alerted the officers to its presence. We reverse.
We agree with the trial court that the stop was legal and that the K-9 unit was timely dispatched to the scene. We have no quarrel with requiring the driver or the passengers to vacate the vehicle during the sniff search. The problem, as we see it, is that when the officer required McNeil, over her objection, to leave her purse in the vehicle during the search, he "seized" her and her property without reasonable suspicion.
We acknowledge that when the driver committed a traffic infraction, he subjected himself (and therefore his passengers) to the inconvenience of a lawful stop so that the driver could be issued a citation. Further, the driver, by his conduct, subjected his vehicle to a drug sniff so long as it was conducted within the time required for the issuance of the citation. Cresswell v. State, 564 So.2d 480 (Fla.1990); State v. Williams, 565 So.2d 714 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990), rev. denied, 576 So.2d 295 (Fla.1991), cert. denied, 500 U.S. 955, 111 S.Ct. 2265, 114 L.Ed.2d 717 (1991). But the passenger did nothing to warrant her individual detention as there was no reason to write her a citation nor was there an independent "reasonable suspicion" that her purse contained contraband. See U.S. v. Place, 462 U.S. 696, 103 S.Ct. 2637, 77 L.Ed.2d 110 (1983). Upon exiting the vehicle, McNeil should have been permitted to leave — with her purse. She attempted to do so. She was heading away from the stopped vehicle (intending to wait at the patrol car until the driver was permitted to leave) when the officer demanded that she replace her purse inside the vehicle. It was thus subjected to the sniff search.
If the officer was truly concerned about the contents of McNeil's purse for safety reasons, as he claims, he could have "patted" it down. State v. Webb, 398 So.2d 820 (Fla. 1981). Requiring McNeil, however, to leave it behind so that it would be exposed to a drug sniff is an impermissible seizure. If the officer cannot extend a lawful stop beyond the time it takes to write a citation in order to have the K-9 unit perform its task, Cress-well and Williams, supra, certainly he may not subject those who are not being "detained" under any lawful authority to such a test.
REVERSED.
GRIFFIN, J., concurs.
THOMPSON, J., dissents, with opinion.