Opinion ID: 779861
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Officers' Power to Detain Burchett

Text: 13 In Michigan v. Summers, 452 U.S. 692, 101 S.Ct. 2587, 69 L.Ed.2d 340 (1981), the Supreme Court ruled that a warrant to search for contraband founded on probable cause implicitly carries with it the limited authority to detain the occupants of the premises while a proper search is conducted. Id. at 705, 101 S.Ct. 2587 (footnotes omitted). In Summers, police approaching a house to execute a search warrant saw the owner of the house leaving and detained him for the duration of the search. Id. at 693, 101 S.Ct. 2587. The Court reasoned that such a detention was permissible even without probable cause, because inasmuch as it involved a limited detention at the individual's own residence it was not very intrusive, and because such a detention served several important police interests. Detaining such individuals prevented flight, minimized the risk of harm to officers and others, and facilitated the orderly completion of the search. See id. at 702-03, 101 S.Ct. 2587. Summers detention does not require a finding of probable cause. See id. at 698-99, 101 S.Ct. 2587. 14 We have extended police officers' powers under Summers in two important respects. First, in United States v. Fountain, 2 F.3d 656, 663 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1014, 114 S.Ct. 608, 126 L.Ed.2d 573 (1993), and overruled on other grounds, Trepel v. Roadway Express, Inc., 194 F.3d 708, 717 (6th Cir.1999), this court ruled that the Supreme Court's discussion of occupants in Summers included nonresidents who are present at the scene of a search when police arrive. The court noted that two of the Summers factors applied equally to nonresidents who are present, because allowing police to detain such individuals would further Summers's goals of preventing flight and minimizing the risk to officers. See id. 15 Second, in United States v. Bohannon, 225 F.3d 615, 616 (6th Cir.2000), we ruled that officers could also detain individuals who arrive at the scene of a search, even if they were not inside the residence or present when police first arrived. In Bohannon, officers were concluding their search and leaving the scene when a car pulled into the driveway of the residence at issue and two individuals walked from the car toward the residence. See id. at 616. The officers asked the first of them for identification and, when the other engaged in nervous behavior, patted down the second, found drugs, and arrested him. See id. Noting that the policies underlying Summers and Fountain, especially officer safety, applied equally to the detention of individuals arriving at a search scene, the court ruled that such a detention was not a violation of the Fourth Amendment. See id. at 617, see also id. (citing Baker v. Monroe Township, 50 F.3d 1186, 1192 (3d Cir.1995) (Although Summers itself only pertains to a resident of the house under search, it follows that the police may stop people coming to or going from the house if police need to ascertain whether they live there.)). 16 In the present case, Burchett neither was a resident of the searched premises nor arrived at the searched premises. Taken in the light most favorable to him, the record shows that Burchett remained on his own property at all times. Although he admittedly walked towards the property line — which the parties agree would place him just twenty-five feet away from his brother's house — in order to see what was going on, Burchett states that he remained on his own property. Inasmuch as Bohannon involved detainees who drove up the driveway, parked near the residence's front porch, and walked toward the residence, see Bohannon, 225 F.3d at 616, Bohannon does not control this case. Burchett never arrived at the searched premises. 17 Although the officers here were not within the strict limits of Summers, we hold that officers act within their Summers powers when they detain an individual who approaches a property being searched pursuant to a warrant, pauses at the property line, and flees when the officers instruct him to get down. Although this reaches beyond Summers's occupants language, it is consistent with the policies that Summers identified. Burchett's presence on the property line and his flight upon encountering the officers would suggest to a reasonable law enforcement official that he posed a similar risk of flight and danger to others as an individual who arrived at the premises during a search. See Bohannon, 225 F.3d at 616-17. That officers arrived and sought to detain him — in the most minimal sense, at first, by yelling for him to get down — while he was still one step away from the property line seems like an arbitrary distinction that would undermine the policies expressed in Summers. 18 We therefore conclude that the officers' detention of Burchett did not violate his Fourth Amendment rights. 19