Opinion ID: 1697730
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Officer Williams Lacked Reasonable Suspicion to Detain Baptiste.

Text: Under the totality of the circumstances offered by the record in this case, the seizure of Baptiste violated the Fourth Amendment. Similar to J.L., the police here received only an anonymous tip stating that a black male wearing a white T-shirt and blue-jean shorts in a described location was in possession of a gun. Since this incident occurred in the warm climate of South Florida, it would be difficult to imagine a more generic form of attire. Indeed, the white T-shirt here is even less distinguishing than the plaid shirt worn by J.L. Further, like the anonymous tipster in J.L., the tipster here did not provide predictive-conduct information indicating any inside knowledge about Baptiste, nor did he offer any predictive information that would have corroborated his claim that Baptiste was engaged in illegal conduct. As in J.L., when the officer arrived on scene, she was only able to corroborate innocent details (i.e., Baptiste's race, his attire, and his location near the address identified in the 911 call). Further, Baptiste was not engaged in any unlawful acts, unusual conduct, or suspicious behavior; he was merely walking down the street. Since the tip was reliable solely in its tendency to identify a determinate person and not in its assertion of illegality, see J.L., 529 U.S. at 272, 120 S.Ct. 1375, we conclude that like the officers in J.L. the police here lacked reasonable suspicion to seize Baptiste at gunpoint. Our conclusion is consistent with other cases in which courts have determined that an anonymous tip failed to provide police with the necessary reasonable suspicion to initiate an investigative stop. In United States v. Johnson, 427 F.3d 1053 (7th Cir. 2005), a tipster provided information that a John Johnson was in possession of a large amount of crack. The female caller stated that Johnson had picked up the crack in Muncie, Indiana, and brought it back to his Fulton Street address in the town of Anderson. The tipster also stated that Johnson picked up crack shipments on Thursdays and drove a white vehicle, but she offered no other details and did not explain the basis of her knowledge. The information was not otherwise corroborated. Id. at 1055 (emphasis supplied). The Seventh Circuit held that the officers lacked reasonable suspicion to seize Johnson after they arrived at his house and informed him of the subject matter of the tip. See id. at 1057; see also United States v. Patterson, 340 F.3d 368, 371 (6th Cir.2003) (anonymous tip that a group of males located at a street corner were conducting drug transactions failed to provide officer with reasonable suspicion to seize Patterson, who was standing with a group of people in front of a house near the corner, because it was not specific enough as to a prediction of future unlawful activities); Feathers v. Aey, 319 F.3d 843, 846, 849 (6th Cir.2003) (anonymous 911 call that a white male with a beard on a porch on North Howard Street had pointed something at the caller and told the caller to shut up did not provide officers with reasonable suspicion to detain Feathers, who matched the description and was standing on a porch on North Howard Street); Young v. State, 841 So.2d 689 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003) (anonymous tip that white male in jean shorts and black tank top at a mobile home park was armed with a firearm did not provide reasonable suspicion to stop Young, who met the description but was not acting suspiciously and officers could not see a firearm); Rivera v. State, 771 So.2d 1246, 1248 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000) (anonymous tip that two vehicles were exchanging gunfire at an intersection did not provide reasonable suspicion for officer to initiate stop of a vehicle which matched description provided in the tip where the police failed to observe any unusual behavior, such as tailgating or an attempt to communicate). This analysis, however, does not lead to a conclusion that an anonymous tip, such as was provided in the instant case, can never provide reasonable suspicion under a totality-of-the-circumstances analysis, nor does it preclude police officers from approaching a citizen and making inquiry. Even though an anonymous tip may not provide predictive information or the precise basis for the tipster's knowledge, subsequent observations of a suspect who matches the description given may afford officers reasonable suspicion to seize that suspect. For example, a federal appellate court has concluded that, even where the anonymous tip alone failed to establish reasonable suspicion, the fact that the suspect reached for his waistband upon seeing officers provided reasonable suspicion for initiation of a Terry stop. See United States v. Gooden, 273 F.3d 1100, 1100, 2001 WL 1075851 (5th Cir. 2001) (unpublished opinion). Further, nervous behavior of a suspect upon the approach of an officer, when considered in conjunction with a purely anonymous tip, may under the totality of the circumstances establish reasonable suspicion for an investigative stop. For example, in United States v. Sims, 296 F.3d 284, 285 (4th Cir.2002), police received an anonymous tip that a black male wearing a T-shirt and blue jeans had just fired a pistol in the area of 809½ Oakwood Avenue. The Fourth Circuit concluded that reasonable suspicion existed to stop the defendant where, upon arriving at a vacant lot on the other side of the building, an officer observed a black male behind a nearby address in a crouched position, peeking around the corner and looking towards the officer. Id. at 286. As soon as the officer made eye contact, the man jerked back behind the house and out of view. See id. The federal court was careful to note that it was not holding that the tip, by itself, or the conduct, by itself, would have justified a search. Id. at 287. Those later observations by the officer were essential and critical to the final evaluation. Other factors which have been held to be relevant in a totality-of-the-circumstances analysis of reasonable suspicion are flight from the police, see United States v. Wynne, 27 Fed.Appx. 106, 107 (3d Cir.2002) (unpublished decision) (Headlong flightwherever it occursis the consummate act of evasion: It is not necessarily indicative of wrongdoing, but it is certainly suggestive of such. (quoting Wardlow, 528 U.S. at 124, 120 S.Ct. 673)); and a history of burglaries at the specified address where the alleged illegal act occurred, see United States v. Goodrich, 450 F.3d 552, 554 (3d Cir.2006) (kiln operator at brickyard reported possible theft of anhydrous ammonia tanks from a farm-supply company located adjacent to brickyard; police had responded to numerous incidents at the farm-supply business and conducted routine surveillance of the tanks on the property). Here, the record does not reflect any additional circumstances or facts which might have established a reasonable suspicion. At best, when the officer first observed Baptiste, he was merely walking down the streetnot running away from the grocery store or engaged in any suspicious conduct. Additionally, when the officers viewed Baptiste, he was not engaged in any illegal, suspicious, or furtive behavior, and the officers did not see a firearm or any bulges in his clothing indicative of a gun. Finally, although Baptiste may have had a prior arrest or conviction, none of the officers indicated that they knew of him or any criminal history before the present incident. Thus, the sole basis for seizing Baptiste at gunpoint was the purely anonymous tip which, according to the specific requirements of our United States Supreme Court, failed to provide reasonable suspicion for Officer Williams to believe that Baptiste had or was engaged in illegal or dangerous conduct. If we were to conclude that reasonable suspicion existed to stop Baptiste, any anonymous tip could be used as a tool of harassmenta situation condemned by the Supreme Court in J.L. when it refused to create an exception for alleged possession of firearms. If this were the law, all a tipster would need to do is inform police that an individual had exhibited a firearm in publicrather than possessed a firearmand that person would be subjected to gunpoint seizure and an embarrassing public search by the police. For example, a resident who does not wish to see other persons in his or her neighborhood hypothetically could telephone a false tip that a person having a particular description had publicly displayed a firearm. Analogously, a man or woman who seeks revenge against and to harass an ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend could telephone a tip alleging that she or he had brandished a firearm in public. Although the Third District relies upon United States v. Perkins, 363 F.3d 317 (4th Cir.2004), for the proposition that the display of a firearm constitutes an obvious and extremely dangerous circumstance, and a tip alleging such conduct will provide an officer with reasonable suspicion to stop a suspect for further investigation, the Third District misdirects the analysis conducted by the federal Fourth Circuit and its ultimate holding. The extensive facts in Perkins are totally different from those properly within this record. [5] A cursory review demonstrates that much more detailed information was present in Perkins than a purely anonymous tipster providing a bare-bones tip that an individual at a certain address had waved a firearm. Indeed, the facts in Perkins are both qualitatively and quantitatively different from the facts of the instant case. In Perkins, the officer was actually aware of the identity of the tipster, who called often and who was later confirmed. See id. at 319. The Perkins tipster lived across the street from the address where the events in question were reported, and she had provided reliable information in the past. See id. In concluding that the stop was legal, the federal court specifically stated that it had conducted a totality-of-the-circumstances analysis and cited a number of these qualitatively and quantitatively different facts in support of its conclusion. See id. at 322. Thus, we do not accept that Perkins stands for the blanket proposition that a clearly anonymous tip alleging the public display of a weapon alone provides per se reasonable suspicion to conduct a Terry stop. Moreover, neither the Third District nor the State has presented a single case which stands for this proposition. Rather, Perkins and other decisions support the conclusion that a tip which alleges that an individual publicly brandished a firearm must be considered in light of all the circumstances present to determine whether reasonable suspicion has been established. In the instant caseother than race, gender, and a most generic description of clothingno additional information was available to or developed by Officer Williams when she arrived on scene, nor had any developed prior to the gunpoint seizure, to support the anonymous allegation that Baptiste had waved a firearm. Therefore, under the totality of the circumstances, the police lacked reasonable suspicion to seize Baptiste at gunpoint when they observed him simply walking down the street and not engaged in any illegal or suspicious conduct. Accordingly, we hold that the stop of Baptiste at gunpoint solely on the basis of the anonymous tip is contrary to J.L. and violated the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article I, section 12 of the Florida Constitution. [6] Therefore, the trial court erroneously denied Baptiste's motion to suppress. In reaching this conclusion, we note that in the conflict case, Rivera v. State, 771 So.2d 1246 (Fla. 2d DCA 2000), which involved more detailed information and more egregious conduct, the Second District properly determined that an anonymous tip failed to provide reasonable suspicion to initiate a traffic stop. In Rivera, an unidentified motorist informed the Tampa police that he saw the occupants of a white Mazda and a maroon Toyota exchanging gunfire at West Gandy Boulevard and South Dale Mabry Highway. See id. at 1247. The motorist provided the police with a license plate number for the Toyota. See id. A BOLO (be on the lookout) was issued for the vehicles. See id. A police officer subsequently observed a white Mazda and a red Toyota Camry, with a license plate which matched the plate number provided in the anonymous tip, entering onto the I-275 ramp from Dale Mabry Highway. See id. The officer stopped the Toyota and both a firearm and heroin were recovered from Rivera, who was a passenger in the car. See id. The Second District ultimately held that the BOLO did not provide the officer with a reasonable suspicion to stop the Toyota because the source of the information in the BOLO was an anonymous tip. See id. In reaching this holding, the Second District specifically noted that, despite the claim from the tipster that the occupants of the vehicles were exchanging gunfire, police observed nothing that corroborated that assertion. See id. at 1248. The Second District noted that there was no evidence in the record that police observed any unusual behavior, such as tailgating or an attempt to communicate. Id. The Second District further declined to uphold that stop on the basis that the danger alleged in the tip was so great that it justified the stop even without a showing of reliability. Id. In rejecting this contention by the State, the Second District specifically relied upon the refusal of the Supreme Court to recognize a firearm exception to the reasonable suspicion standard. See id. We conclude that, unlike the Third District in the instant case, the Second District correctly applied the analysis of the Supreme Court in J.L. when it determined that the stop in Rivera was invalid. We further note that if an anonymous tip that the occupants of two vehicles are actively exchanging gunfire is insufficient to create an exception to the reasonable-suspicion standard established by the Supreme Court in Terry, then the anonymous allegation that an individual has publicly waved a firearm certainly does not warrant disregard of the standard. Our holding today should not be interpreted to imply that, upon receipt of an anonymous call that someone has publicly waved a firearm, officers cannot or should not respond or approach that individual to further investigate the allegation and the circumstances. Rather, we merely hold that when investigating an anonymous tip, officers who are unable to independently corroborate criminal activity may not initiate a gunpoint seizure based upon confirmation of only innocent detailssuch as a physical descriptionwith absolutely no observation or development of any suspicious behavior. In the instant case, the officers could have approached Baptiste and engaged him in conversation in an attempt to investigate the tip, and this conduct would not have violated the Fourth Amendment. See United States v. Goddard, 491 F.3d 457, 460 (D.C.Cir.2007) ([L]aw enforcement officers do not violate the Fourth Amendment by merely approaching an individual on the street.... (quoting Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 497, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983)), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 1274, 170 L.Ed.2d 111 (2008)); see also J.L., 727 So.2d at 208 (Of course, there was nothing to prevent the police from engaging in a consensual encounter with the trio or from questioning them concerning their possession of a weapon as reported in the anonymous tip.). As noted from the cases discussed, had Baptiste appeared nervous, reached for his waistband, fled, or engaged in illegal or suspicious conduct, these ensuing events depending on the totality of the circumstancesmight have established reasonable suspicion for the officers to stop and frisk Baptiste. Thus, our decision today does not and is not intended to hamstring the police, nor does it place their personal safety at risk. Rather, our decision merely ensures that law enforcement officers execute their duties within the confines of state and federal constitutional boundaries. Indeed, to require reasonable suspicion prior to the initiation of a stop at gunpoint promotes sound police practice. In his dissent, Justice Wells contends that even if the officer violated the Fourth Amendment when she seized Baptiste at gunpoint, the exclusionary rule should not be applied in the instant case. Of course, Florida has an express exclusionary rule included in article I, section 12 of our state constitution. Further, a review of the record demonstrates that the State never raised this contention in its brief, during oral argument, or during the trial court proceedings. It is a longstanding principle of our jurisprudence that for a claim to be addressed by this Court, it must be raised by the party before the trial court, or it has been waived. See Steinhorst v. State, 412 So.2d 332, 338 (Fla.1982) ([I]n order for an argument to be cognizable on appeal, it must be the specific contention asserted as legal ground for the objection, exception, or motion below.). We even apply this tenet in death caseswithout question, the most serious cases that we address, with the most severe consequences. See, e.g., Overton v. State, 976 So.2d 536, 546-47 (Fla. 2007) (claim that trial judge engaged in improper conduct procedurally barred on appeal where no objection raised and no motion to disqualify judge filed during the evidentiary hearing); Evans v. State, 975 So.2d 1035, 1042 (Fla.2007) (claim that it is unconstitutional to execute capital defendant because he is physically handicapped and mentally impaired not preserved in appellate proceeding because it was not raised in the postconviction motion). Justice Wells advances an argument never presented in this case. If we do not make exceptions for defendants who face the ultimate penalty, we certainly should not spontaneously raise and adopt positions that could have been asserted during the instant proceedings but were not. The State never advanced this argument for discussion, and we will not do so on its behalf.