Case Name: The STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Elain OROZCO and Claudia Monegro, Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1992-10-06
Citations: 607 So. 2d 464
Docket Number: Nos. 91-2090, 91-2089
Parties: The STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Elain OROZCO and Claudia Monegro, Appellees.
Judges: Before BASKIN, FERGUSON and JORGENSON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 607
Pages: 464–468

Head Matter:
The STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Elain OROZCO and Claudia Monegro, Appellees.
Nos. 91-2090, 91-2089.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Oct. 6, 1992.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Jorge Espinosa and Gisele Lylen, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellant.
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Carol J.Y. Wilson, Asst. Public Defender, for appellees.
Before BASKIN, FERGUSON and JORGENSON, JJ.

Opinion:
JORGENSON, Judge.
The State appeals from an order granting defendants' motions to suppress. For the reasons that follow, we reverse.
On September 6, 1991, Metro Dade police officer Luis Fernandez received an anonymous telephone tip that a young Latin male would be leaving the Country Walk area in a vehicle carrying narcotics. Fernandez testified that the caller stated that a young Latin male, standing approximately five feet nine inches tall and weighing between 190 and 200 pounds, would be leaving a specific residential address in either a white pickup truck or small red vehicle carrying a large quantity of cocaine. The caller further stated that the departure would occur between 6:00 and 6:30 that same evening.
Fernandez arranged for a surveillance team to go to the specified location. Upon arrival, Fernandez observed a white pickup truck and a small red car parked in front of the residence.
At approximately 6:30 p.m., a woman later identified as Monegro and a man fitting the description given to Fernandez left the house and drove away in the white pickup truck. Fernandez and the surveillance team followed the truck. Soon after, the truck made an abrupt U-turn and sped up to 85 miles per hour in a residential area in an attempt to elude the surveillance team. Officer Fernandez gave chase and, once the flow of traffic forced the pickup to slow down, he stopped the vehicle. Fernandez spoke to the driver of the pickup, Orozco, and told him about the information received in the anonymous tip. Fernandez then requested consent to search the pickup; Orozco refused. The police dog handler, a member of the surveillance team, walked his K-9 around the pickup truck. The dog alerted the officers to the presence of cocaine.
Following the reading of Miranda rights, Fernandez asked Orozco whether he was willing to speak without an attorney pres ent. Orozco agreed to speak with the officer and told Fernandez that he could find a kilo of cocaine in Monegro's purse. The cocaine was then retrieved from the purse.
Both defendants were charged with trafficking in cocaine. The defendants filed a motion to suppress written and oral statements, alleging that they were the result of an illegal arrest. The trial court granted the motion, and the State appeals from that order. We reverse, as the stop was valid as the result of a lawful arrest for reckless driving.
While the surveillance team was following the pickup truck, the truck made an "abrupt" U-turn and drove through a residential community "kicking up dirt" at speeds exceeding 80 m.p.h. This act of reckless driving created probable cause for the police to arrest defendant Orozco. Section 316.192, Fla.Stat. (1991). See Gasset v. State, 490 So.2d 97 (Fla. 3d DCA) (officers engaged in 80 m.p.h. chase of vehicle in residential neighborhood had probable cause to make warrantless arrest of defendant for reckless driving), rev. denied, 500 So.2d 544 (Fla.1986). The defendants were thus properly stopped for reckless driving. As stated by this court:
[O]nce the defendant was legally stopped, the use of a sniff dog was not an unconstitutional search under the Fourth Amendment. A sniff dog's "alert" can constitute probable cause to conduct a search. Once probable cause existed to search the vehicle, no warrant was needed to authorize the search. Just as no police officer need close his eyes to contraband in plain view, no police officer armed with a sniff dog need ignore the olfactory essence of illegality. (Citations omitted.)
State v. Taswell, 560 So.2d 257 (Fla. 3d DCA1990).
Because the stop was valid, it was error to suppress the evidence that resulted from the arrest and search.
Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.
FERGUSON, J., concurs.
. The officers' decision not to arrest the defendant for reckless driving is of no moment; the propriety of an arrest does not turn on the charges upon which the arrest was effected. Gasset v. State, 490 So.2d 97, 98 (Fla. 3d DCA), rev. denied, 500 So.2d 544 (Fla.1986); Thomas v. State, 395 So.2d 280 (Fla. 3d DCA1981); Chaney v. State, 237 So.2d 281 (Fla. 4th DCA), cert. denied, 242 So.2d 461 (1970), cert. denied, 403 U.S. 904, 91 S.Ct. 2205, 29 L.Ed.2d 680 (1971). See also Charlton v. State, 550 So.2d 150, 151 (Fla. 3d DCA1989) ("Because the officer was authorized to arrest [the defendant] . there is no need to analyze whether . a reasonable officer would have stopped [the defendant] solely for this violation."). (Citations omitted.)