Case Name: STATE of Louisiana v. Jerome BENJAMIN
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1997-11-26
Citations: 703 So. 2d 192
Docket Number: No. 96-KA-2781
Parties: STATE of Louisiana v. Jerome BENJAMIN.
Judges: Before BYRNES,' JONES and WALTZER, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 703
Pages: 192–201

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana v. Jerome BENJAMIN.
No. 96-KA-2781.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.
Nov. 26, 1997.
Sherry Watters, Orleans Indigent Defender Program, Scott N. Hensgens, Student Attorney, Tulane Law School Community Service Program, New Orleans, for Appellant Jerome Benjamin.
Before BYRNES,' JONES and WALTZER, JJ.

Opinion:
hWALTZER, Judge.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
Defendant, Jerome Benjamin was charged by bill of information with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, a violation of LSA-R.S. 14:95.1. Pretrial hearings to determine probable cause and to suppress evidence were held. The trial court found probable cause to bind the defendant over for trial, and denied the motion to suppress the evidence. A jury of twelve citizens found the defendant guilty as charged. The defendant was sentenced to serve twelve years at hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence with credit for time served, and was assessed a $1,500 fine.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
We reviewed the testimony both at the hearing on the motion to suppress and at trial. Police Officer Joseph Pollard testified on both occasions that on 9 January 1996, at approximately 11 o'clock p.m., he and his partner, Police Officer Ernest Rome, were patrolling in the area of Alabo and No. Johnson Streets. Officer Pollard testified that when they drove alongside the defendant he noticed |2that the defendant "grabbed his waistband" and "started running on No. Johnson Street." Officer Pollard suspected, based on this behavior, that the defendant either had a gun or contraband. Initially the police unit manned by Officers Pollard and Rome followed from behind the defendant, but when the officers caught up with him, Officer Pollard chased the running defendant on foot. Meanwhile, another police car manned by Officers Marquez and Thomas, without knowledge as to why the officers were trying to apprehend the defendant, joined in the chase. Officers Marquez and Thomas gave assistance based on the assumption that the defendant had fled from Officers Rome and Pollard. Officer Thomas testified that he saw the defendant "grab at his waistband," which to him was an indication that the defendant "was trying to conceal something or hold something up so that it won't fall down." At some point during the chase the defendant ran in between cars, and ultimately Officer Thomas joined Officer Pollard in the footrace, following the defendant running on the sidewalk, and cutting in front of the car. According to Officer Thomas he ran about a quarter of a block on the opposite side of the street with the goal of cutting the defendant off. The defendant ran through a fence in front of an abandoned house and into a rear yard where he jumped over a fence. Officer Pollard testified that the defendant pulled on his waistband which aroused his suspicion and he "knew" that he had either a gun or contraband. Ultimately, the defendant discarded a weapon in an empty lot in the 2000 block of Charbonnet Street. Officer Pollard testified that he made a mental note where the weapon had been discarded and continued to pursue the defendant, but ultimately gave up chasing the defendant because he was fatigued. Meanwhile, Officer Thomas continued the chase. The defendant was finally apprehended by Officers Rome and Marquez when he exited an empty lot around the corner. Officer Pollard [ gtestified that since only he had seen the weapon and where it was discarded, he retrieved it. Officer Rome read the defendant his rights and after he had done so, the defendant allegedly stated that he had to get rid of the gun because he did not want to go back to jail. Once the defendant's name was checked in the computer, it was determined that the defendant had a prior conviction for armed robbery.
At trial Officer Burmaster testified that in his expert opinion the fingerprints taken of the defendant in court when compared with fingerprints taken from the reverse side of a Bill of Information charging the defendant with two counts of armed robbery, to which the defendant had pled guilty, were identical and established that the defendant was the same person who had previously plead guilty to the two counts of armed robbery, forming the predicate offense for the alleged LSA-R.S. 14:95.1 violation.
The defendant testified and readily admitted that he had previously pled guilty to two counts of armed robbery. According to the defendant, he was walking down No. Johnson Street, when Officers Rome and Pollard pulled up behind him with sirens and a flashlight. He testified that he kept walking but he was ordered to stand against the car. As he argued with the officers, he fled the scene because he did not like the way the officers were "handling" him. He testified that he ran through a yard, jumped a fence and collapsed on Lamanche Street. He testified that an officer then came up and asked him if he had any drugs. He answered that he did not have any drugs. He stated that the officer began to hit him. He told the officer that he had been shot. After being questioned by the officer where he had been shot, he showed the officer the wound. The officer responded that he did not run like he had been shot. He testified that the officer handcuffed him and placed him in the police unit. The 14offícer asked defendant his name in order to run a check. The officers asked the defendant if he knew why he was under arrest. He responded, "No". The officers showed him a gun and asked if it belonged to him. He responded, "No". Defendant denied having made the statement that he had discarded the weapon because he did not want to go to jail. He also denied having a gun after he was released from prison. He denied guilt as to the armed robbery charge and said that he pled guilty only to please his mother and because he was facing two ninety-nine year sentences. On cross-examination, defendant admitted that he began to run when police shined the light on him.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR
The defendant complains that he did no more than walk down the street and that the trial court erred in failing to grant the defendant's motion to suppress the evidence, because:
a) before the stop of the defendant occurred the officers lacked reasonable suspicion for an investigatory stop; and
b) the seizure of the allegedly discarded firearm exceeded the bounds of a permissible investigatory stop.
THE APPLICABLE LAW
The authorization for a temporary" stop by a police officer of a person in a public place is set forth in LSA-C.Cr.P. art. 215.1, which provides in part:
A. A law enforcement officer may stop a person in a public place whom he reasonably suspects is committing, has committed, or is about to commit an offense and may demand of him his name, address, and an explanation of his actions.
See also Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); State v. Guy, 575 So.2d 429 (La.App. 4 Cir.), writ denied 578 So.2d 930 (La.1991); State v. Smith, 573 So.2d 1233 (La.App. 4 Cir.), writ denied 577 So.2d 48 (La.1991); State v. Johnson, 557 So.2d 1030 (La.App. 4 Cir.1990); State v. Jones, 483 So.2d 1207 (La.App. 4 Cir.), writ denied 488 So.2d 197 (La.1986). As this Court noted in Johnson:
Reasonable suspicion is something less than the probable cause required for an arrest, and the reviewing court must look to the facts and circumstances of each case to determine whether the detaining officer had sufficient facts within his knowledge to justify an infringement of the suspect's rights. State v. Jones, supra. Mere suspicion of activity is not a sufficient basis for police interference with an individual's freedom. State v. Williams, 421 So.2d 874 (La.1982).
Johnson, 557 So.2d at 1033. See also Guy; Smith.
An investigatory stop is a "seizure" that must be justified by some objective manifestation that the person is or is about to be involved in criminal activity. The detaining officers must have knowledge of specific, ar-ticulable facts which, if taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant the stop. State v. Vance, 93-1389 (La.App. 4 Cir. 2/25/94), 633 So.2d 819. A seizure violative of the Louisiana Constitution, Art.l, Sect. 5 occurs when the police, without reasonable suspicion, either stop an individual or create a situation wherein an actual stop of the individual is imminent.
The fact that a person runs or flees does not in and of itself establish probable cause. Flight does not always indicate guilt. It may result from fear and possibly other causes. Even when flight does appear reasonably designed to avoid apprehension, reasonable cause will not arise unless flight, combined with other information upon which the officer is entitled to rely, would indicate to a reasonable mind that the combination of circumstances is inconsistent with any | fiinnocent pursuit. State v. Hathaway, 411 So.2d 1074 (La.1982); State v. Patterson, 588 So.2d 392 (La.App. 4 Cir.1991).
Evidence abandoned by a citizen and recovered by the police as a direct result of an unconstitutional seizure may not be used in a resulting prosecution against the citizen. State v. Tucker, 626 So.2d 707 (La.1993); State v. Chopin, 372 So.2d 1222 (La.1979). When the citizen is stopped without reasonable cause or when a stop without reasonable cause is imminent the right to be left alone is violated and renders unlawful any resultant seizure of abandoned property. Tucker.
A warrantless arrest must be based on probable cause. Probable cause exists when the facts and circumstances known to the arresting officer and of which he has reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient to justify a man of ordinary caution in believing that the person to be arrested has committed a crime. State v. Tomasetti, 381 So.2d 420 (1980), citing Beck v. State of Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964). The officer must have had sufficient facts within his knowledge to justify an infringement of the suspect's rights. Mere suspicion of criminal activity is not sufficient for police interference with an individual's freedom. State v. Williams, 421 So.2d 874 (La.1982).
ANALYSIS
In the instant case, Officers Pollard and Rome pursued the defendant merely because he grabbed at his waistband and ran down the street. Neither officer testified that they ordered the defendant to stop or had any conversation with the defendant. Neither testified that the defendant was known to him or that the defendant was known to engage in criminal activity. Neither officer saw defendant |7with drugs or a weapon. The officers did not even testify that the area was notorious for criminal activity; more significantly, neither officer saw the defendant with drugs or a weapon. Adjusting one's trousers by tugging on the waistband without any other indicia of suspicious behavior is innocent activity. There was no testimony that there was a tip on a hotline or that a call was made to describe the defendant as being armed. When the defendant adjusted his waistband and ran, the officers operated on a mere belief that the defendant was fleeing because he was secreting either a weapon or drugs in his waistband. Concerning the defendant's behavior the officers testified that "he grabbed his waistband and started running," and "he observed the police car and just started fleeing holding on to his waistband." Officer Rome testified that he saw no gun when he first saw the defendant but saw him . "just holding his waistband." Officer Marquez admitted that he "did not see or know what reason they had for stopping him [the defendant]." Officer Pollard testified that when "the defendant saw us he ran on No. Johnson, pulling his waistband." The officers did not articulate any knowledge or facts to justify the belief that the defendant had committed, was committing or was about to commit a crime.
It was during the chase of the defendant that Officer Pollard testified that he observed defendant discard a weapon which he later retrieved. The defendant's stop was imminent. Two officers were chasing the defendant on foot and two were following in police units cutting off any escape routes that the defendant might take. He was surrounded by the police. In fact, the testimony was to the effect that the officers' aim was to try to cut him off, give him a short cut and make him turn so that he would have no escape possibility.
IsFurthermore, when the defendant encountered Officer Rome, the officer did not apprehend and question the defendant as to why he ran and why he grabbed at his waistband. The defendant was never given the opportunity to explain his actions, which is the purpose of an investigatory stop. Instead, Officer Rome handcuffed the defendant and arrested him. There was no reasonable suspicion to detain the defendant. All the while there were no articulable facts that the defendant was fleeing as a result of the commission or attempted commission of a crime. Although the defendant's running from the scene upon seeing the officers is a factor to be considered, flight without more is insufficient to justify an investigatory stop where the officers did not know what might be in the defendant's waistband. State v. Roberson, 549 So.2d 931 (La.App. 3 Cir.1989); State v. Ellington, 96-0766 (La.App. 4 Cir. 9/4/96), 680 So.2d 174; State v. Denis, 96-0956 (La.App. 4 Cir. 3/19/97), 691 So.2d 1295, writ denied 97-1006 (La.6/20/97), 695 So.2d 1352. Running and pulling on the waistband served as an impermissible substitute for the requisite reasonable suspicion. It is not a crime to run from the police while clutching one's waistband.
Where officers, as here, do not have the right to make an investigatory stop, property abandoned or otherwise disposed of as a result thereof cannot be legally seized by police officers. State v. Andrishok, 434 So.2d 389 (La.1983). In Louisiana, when a citizen is actually stopped without reasonable cause, or when a stop without reasonable cause is imminent, "the right to be left alone" is violated, thereby rendering unlawful any resultant seizure of abandoned property. State v. Belton, 441 So.2d 1195 (La.1983), cert. denied, 466 U.S. 953, 104 S.Ct. 2158, 80 L.Ed.2d 543 (1984).
^CONCLUSION AND DECREE
Since the defendant's actions did not rise to the level of reasonable suspicion to justify the pursuit and the stop of the defendant, and because the weapon was discarded when the illegal stop was imminent, the seizure of the weapon was also illegal, and because no probable cause existed for Officer Rome to arrest the defendant following the chase, the defendant's arrest was illegal. The trial court committed error when he denied the motion to suppress the evidence. Because the illegally obtained evidence was admitted at trial, the conviction and the sentence are reversed and the case is remanded for further proceedings.
CONVICTION AND SENTENCE REVERSED. CASE REMANDED TO TRIAL COURT FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS.
BYRNES, J., dissents with reason.'
. The sentencing transcript reflects that the trial judge imposed the mandatory fine; the minute entry of the sentencing and the copy of the commitment papers do not reflect the imposition of the mandatory fine.
. In reviewing a denial of a motion to suppress, an appellate court is not limited to the evidence adduced at the suppression hearing, but may consider all pertinent evidence adduced at trial. State v. Barra, 572 So.2d 1187 (La.App. 4 Cir.1990) writ denied, 575 So.2d 822 (La.1991).