Opinion ID: 2521453
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Were Rankin and Staab unlawfully seized without a warrant?

Text: Under article I, section 7, a person is seized when, in view of all the objective circumstances, a reasonable person would not feel free to leave. Young, 135 Wash.2d at 510, 957 P.2d 681. In a police-questioning context, this means that a seizure occurs if a reasonable person would not feel free to refuse the officer's request for identification and end the encounter. O'Neill, 148 Wash.2d at 574, 62 P.3d 489 (citing Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 436, 111 S.Ct. 2382, 115 L.Ed.2d 389 (1991)). [2] The federal courts and two divisions of the Washington Court of Appeals have recognized that an officer's detaining of a passenger during a traffic stop makes the passenger just as seized as the driver. [3] See, e.g., State v. Tijerina, 61 Wash.App. 626, 628, 811 P.2d 241 (1991) (the stop of an automobile is a seizure of all its occupants); [4] State v. Stroud, 30 Wash.App. 392, 396, 634 P.2d 316 (1981) (passenger just as restrained from leaving the scene as the driver during a traffic stop); [5] Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 809-10, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996) (temporary detention of individuals during a traffic stop even for brief periods constitutes a seizure); Maryland v. Wilson, 519 U.S. 408, 413-14, 117 S.Ct. 882, 137 L.Ed.2d 41 (1997) (as a practical matter, a passenger is stopped by virtue of the stopped vehicle); Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420, 436, 104 S.Ct. 3138, 82 L.Ed.2d 317 (1984) (traffic stop significantly curtails the `freedom of action' of the driver and the passengers, if any, of the detained vehicle); United States v. Hensley, 469 U.S. 221, 226, 105 S.Ct. 675, 83 L.Ed.2d 604 (1985) (stopping a car and detaining its occupants constitutes a seizure); Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 653, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979) (stopping an automobile and detaining its occupants constitutes a seizure). [6] The above cases recognize that in a traffic stop, the officer exerts a significant amount of authority and control. First, the officer generally uses overhead flashing lights, sirens, or a combination of both, to exert authority. See, e.g., Stroud, 30 Wash.App. at 396, 634 P.2d 316 (flashing lights and high beam headlights significant in effectuating a seizure). Second, an officer in a traffic stop situation generally emerges from a powerful position in the squad car, approaches the vehicle, sometimes knocks on the window, and then engages the occupants in dialogue while looking down upon them. Finally, the occupants are in a confined space with limited options for departure. Based upon these objective circumstances, a reasonable passenger might not feel free to refuse an officer's request for identification and end the encounter. [7] If a passenger leaves the car and the location, the seizure ends. If the passenger stays, the seizure continues. If the reasonable passenger would not feel free to leave when asked for identification, he has effectively been seized, even if he was not seized at the time the vehicle was stopped. If the passenger were to leave the vehicle, the seizure would end, but if the officer asks the passenger to return to the car, the passenger is again seized. The key, as the dissent repeatedly emphasizes, is the actions of the officer. Turning to the cases at bar, in Rankin the officer pulled over the vehicle with his emergency lights, approached from the passenger side, and asked for identification. The officer took the identification from Rankin, wrote down information, and stated be right back. Report of Proceedings (RP) at 20. In Staab, the officer pulled over the vehicle with his emergency lights and siren and asked for identification in an impolite tone. RP at 41, 47. The officers did not suspect Rankin or Staab to be involved in any criminal activity when they made requests for identification. A reasonable person in the same situation would not have felt free to refuse the officer's requests and end the encounter. Based upon a review of state and federal precedent, and the objective circumstances surrounding the traffic stops, I would hold that Rankin and Staab were seized when the officers stopped the vehicles and requested their identifications.