Opinion ID: 1193476
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Flashlight Search.

Text: The next question concerns the lawfulness of Officer Mueller's flashlight search of the vehicle. Appellee contends that the only purposes for the stop were to identify the driver and question him about his evasive actions, and that Officer Mueller could have obtained that information without looking into the car. Therefore, he argues, anything discovered as a result of the flashlight search was properly suppressed. Again, we disagree. Since Officer Mueller had reasonable grounds to justify an investigative stop of the automobile, it was not unlawful for him to be standing next to the car's window or to look at whatever could be observed through the window from where he had a right to be. Since he was entitled to look through the windows, he was entitled to use a flashlight to be able to see in the dark. People v. Mangum, supra ; People v. Haggart, 188 Colo. 164, 533 P.2d 488 (1975); People v. Shriver, 186 Colo. 405, 528 P.2d 242 (1974); People v. Ramey, 174 Colo. 250, 483 P.2d 374 (1971); People v. Teague, 173 Colo. 120, 476 P.2d 751 (1970). People v. Apodaca, supra , upon which the appellee relies for his contention, involved a special fact situation and is inapplicable here. In that case, police conducted an exploratory flashlight search of the defendants' car even though they had no reason to suspect that a crime had been committed. Moreover, the car was parked in a carport behind the defendants' house. Given those facts, we held that the police search violated the defendants' reasonable expectation of privacy. Here, on the other hand, the police had reasonable grounds to suspect criminal activity, and thus were justified in making the initial stop of the appellee's car. Furthermore, the car was stopped on a public street where, given the ready visibility of an automobile's interior, the appellee's reasonable expectations of privacy were considerably diminished. At that point the situation was comparable to the right of an officer to see what is in plain view in a car parked on a public street. Under the specific circumstances here, Officer Mueller was justified in making the very limited intrusion on the appellee's privacy incident to looking through the car window with a flashlight.