Opinion ID: 2224483
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the stop and search

Text: Stopping the Vehicle. Around 7 p.m. on November 24, 1989, Officer Mark Sundermeier, a member of the Omaha Police Department's narcotics unit, received a telephone call from a confidential informant who told Sundermeier that, shortly before the call, the informant had observed three males who were selling crack cocaine out of a 1981 black Cadillac, bearing Nebraska license plates 1-GA252, in the vicinity of 24th and Sprague Streets in Omaha, an area with a high level of drug activity where individuals will wait in cars in that area and sell to customers who come up to cars. The informant described the Cadillac's occupants, including the driver, whom he identified as Clifford, estimated to be 24 to 25 years old. According to the informant, Clifford had shown crack cocaine to him and offered to sell the crack cocaine to the informant. Clifford told the informant that he was leaving, but would be returning to the 24th and Sprague location that evening to sell cocaine. At the suppression hearing, and without objection, Sundermeier testified concerning the informant's reliability: [The informant] has provided information to me in my capacity as a narcotics officer for over two years. The informant has made numerous purchases of crack cocaine, marijuana, Ritalin and Talwin and is personally familiar with these drugs. I've used this informant on numerous occasions to obtain search warrants and to make arrests of individuals for felony drug offenses. Sundermeier further testified that the informant has never proved unreliable. Sundermeier relayed the information to his supervisor, Sgt. Mark Langan, and the officers decided to go in unmarked cars to 24th and Sprague and check out the informant's message about drug activity. While en route to 24th and Sprague, Sundermeier verified the license number of the 1981 Cadillac and learned that the car was registered to Kenette Kemp, whose address was 2515 Himebaugh Avenue in Omaha. On arrival at 24th and Sprague, Sundermeier and Langan searched the area for the 1981 Cadillac. When they were unable to locate the Cadillac, the officers proceeded a few blocks north to 2515 Himebaugh Avenue, arriving there at 7:15 p.m., and found the Cadillac unoccupied and parked across the street from the house on Himebaugh. After matching the Cadillac's license number with the number supplied by the informant, the officers set up surveillance of the vehicle. Around 8 p.m., the officers observed two males walk across the street from 2515 Himebaugh Avenue and enter the Cadillac. The two men were of medium height and build and their descriptions were consistent with those given by the informant. The Cadillac left and proceeded east on Himebaugh Avenue toward 24th Street. Sundermeier and Langan, in unmarked cars, followed the Cadillac and radioed for assistance from Officers John Neaman and Tim Anderson, who were on area patrol in a uniformed cruiser. When the Cadillac reached 24th Street, it made a right turn and proceeded south a short distance to Taylor Street. When the Cadillac reached the intersection of 24th and Taylor and then turned west on Taylor, Langan ordered Neaman and Anderson, who were in their cruiser immediately behind the Cadillac, to initiate a traffic stop. Anderson activated the cruiser's red lights to effectuate the stop. Although the Cadillac slowed to approximately 5 miles per hour, it did not come to a complete stop until Sundermeier pulled his unmarked car ahead of the Neaman-Anderson cruiser and positioned his car directly in front of the Cadillac. The police officers used their three vehicles to sandwich the Cadillac against the curb and thereby prevent its leaving. Search of Thomas. Sundermeier and Langan got out of their cars in front of the Cadillac and approached that vehicle, while Officers Neaman and Anderson were simultaneously approaching from the rear of the Cadillac. As the police officers approached, Sundermeier repeatedly shouted to the occupants to place their hands where the officers could see them. When the individuals inside the car failed to comply, Sundermeier drew his revolver and pointed it at the man in the passenger seat, later identified as David Ross. While Sundermeier was walking toward the Cadillac, Ross reached into his pocket and removed a white rock about the size of a small marble and placed it in his mouth and appeared to ... begin swallowing it. As Sundermeier related, It appeared to me to be crack cocaine. Officer Neaman, approaching from the rear of the Cadillac, came up to the passenger-side door and attempted to open it, but discovered the door was locked. Neaman ordered Ross to unlock the door and, when Ross failed to respond, broke out the car window, reached inside and opened the door, removed Ross, and secured him. During Neaman's encounter with Ross, Langan and Anderson were approaching the driver's side of the Cadillac and asked the driver, subsequently identified as Clifford Thomas, to step out of the car, which he did, and the officers conducted a pat-down search for weapons on Thomas. In the course of this pat-down search, Langan asked Thomas his name, and Thomas said, Clifford. Langan testified that, at that point, I immediately advised him he was under arrest in connection with crack cocaine, and I instructed Officer, I believe, Anderson to search [Thomas] incident to that arrest. While Anderson was searching Thomas, Langan observed Officer Anderson pull a bag of crack cocaine out from the front of [Thomas'] pants.... It turned out to be nine grams. Later, laboratory analysis confirmed that the substance in the bag was crack cocaine. As a result of searching Thomas, Anderson also found $527 in cash located in three of Thomas' pants pockets. After Thomas' arrest, Sundermeier asked him for permission to search his residence at 2515 Himebaugh. Thomas told Sundermeier that he did not live at 2515 Himebaugh, but was just staying there, although Thomas did have a key to the front door of the house at that address. When Thomas rejected the officer's request to search 2515 Himebaugh, he was then placed in a cruiser and transported to the police station. A search of the Cadillac disclosed a receipt for brake work on the Cadillac, dated October 24, 1989, showing Thomas' residence as 2515 Himebaugh Avenue. At Police Headquarters. At police headquarters, Officer Donald Truckenbrod administered the Miranda warning or admonition to Thomas and then questioned him. During the interrogation, Truckenbrod told Thomas that the combination of 9 grams of crack cocaine and $527 in cash indicated that Thomas was involved in the sale of crack cocaine. Thomas responded that he was not involved in selling cocaine, that he was only a user, and the reason he was carrying a large quantity of crack cocaine was because he uses a great deal of cocaine. The Search of 2515 Himebaugh. Later in the evening of November 24, 1989, Officer Sundermeier applied for a warrant to search 2515 Himebaugh for: Cocaine, it's [sic] derivatives, and the administering instruments. Monies and records pertaining to an illegal narcotics operation. Items of venue which would tend to identify the individuals residing or in control of said residence.... To support his application, Sundermeier submitted his affidavit, setting out the need for a search warrant and recounting the events leading up to Thomas' arrest, including the information provided by the informant, the surveillance near 2515 Himebaugh, and the stop and arrest of Thomas and Ross. Further, Sundermeier's affidavit expressed that a confidential informant, who had proven reliable in the past, had been contacted and asked to purchase crack cocaine by a person who matched Thomas' description and drove a black Cadillac with Nebraska plates 1-GA252. On the basis of Sundermeier's affidavit, a search warrant was issued for 2515 Himebaugh in accordance with the scope specified in Sundermeier's application. Sundermeier and several other officers executed the search warrant on November 24, 1989, and, in the course of the search, found, among other items, a small amount of marijuana, a .25-caliber automatic pistol, a .22-caliber single-action revolver, and several items showing Thomas' residence as 2515 Himebaugh Avenue, including merchandise receipts signed to Thomas for deliveries at the Himebaugh address and a postcard addressed to Thomas at that address.