Opinion ID: 60510
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whittington’s Arrest

Text: We review the facts in the light most favorable to Whittington. On February 19, 2004, Whittington was waiting at a bus stop in Surfside. He leaned up against a concrete post which had a bus stop sign attached to it. When the wind blew, the sign became loose to some extent and hit Whittington in the face. The force from the sign broke Whittington’s sunglasses. Whittington then tore the sign from the post and threw it to the ground. Whittington alleges that he did this so no one else could be injured by the sign. Several teenagers at the bus stop laughed after seeing the sign hit Whittington. Whittington had words with them, and they left the bus stop. Whittington observed one of the members of this group, who was later identified as Chris Marco, stop and speak with Surfside police officer Luis Perez. According 2 to Officer Perez’s police reports, Marco told him that he had observed a white male wearing an orange Miami Hurricanes sweatshirt tear the bus stop sign from the pole. Officer Perez then came and stood directly behind Whittington, whose appearance matched Marco’s description, for the next several minutes until the bus arrived.1 Officer Perez did not say anything to Whittington or stop him from boarding the bus. Whittington boarded the bus and sat near the back of the bus. Approximately four or five blocks later, two Surfside police cars pulled up beside the bus and pulled it over. Whittington overheard a conversation between two men sitting near him who he assumed were construction workers based on their clothing. Whittington claimed that one told the other, “I can’t take it. You take it. I’m on parole.” Whittington decided to walk toward the front of the bus. Whittington thought that the police were stopping the bus because of his earlier incident with the bus stop sign, and he also wanted to separate himself from the two men. After the bus stopped and Whittington started to exit the bus, he was confronted by six police officers. One of the officers had his gun out and another was holding a club. One officer said, “get off the bus, you God damn scumbag.” 1 In contrast to Whittington’s version of the events, Officer Perez stated in his report that Whittington had already boarded the bus by the time he reached the bus stop. 3 At this point, Whittington had not indicated that he would refuse to exit the bus or tried to resist the officers in any way. Two officers, allegedly Officers Patrick Giambalvo and Perez, reached up, grabbed him by the shirt in his chest area, and pulled him down from the bus. His momentum carried him from the bus into some hedges in a yard, and the officers fell on top of him. Whittington felt his knee pop as this happen. Whittington indicated that, at this point, all of the officers present piled onto him. The officers kept saying to him, “[g]o ahead, resist, come on, give us a reason.” The officers handcuffed him and sat him on the sidewalk. Officer John Fiorito claimed that he observed Whittington throw a white bottle as he walked toward the front of the bus and relayed this information to Officer Giambalvo. Officer Giambalvo searched the bus and found a white bottle that contained a small amount of marijuana. Whittington denies that this bottle was his and assumes that it belonged to one of the two men who were sitting near him on the bus. Whittington was arrested for possession of marijuana and criminal mischief and issued a notice to appear in court. The charges against Whittington were ultimately dismissed.2 Although the record reveals that the Assistant State 2 On appeal, Whittington argues briefly that the seizure of marijuana was the fruit of an unlawful arrest and could not be used against him. Because Whittington did not raise this claim 4 Attorney dropped the charges against Whittington because the arresting officer failed to appear in court, Whittington contends that Officer Perez was present on his court date.