Opinion ID: 1678482
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: whether the appellant's conduct in this case constitutes disorderly conduct under sec. 947.01, stats., as adopted by city of oak creek municipal ordinance sec. 9:947:01

Text: [1] This issue presents a question as to the application of law to uncontroverted facts. Questions involving statutory construction are afforded independent review without the necessity of deferring to the conclusions of the lower court. Kania v. Airborne Freight Corp., 99 Wis. 2d 746, 758-59, 300 N.W.2d 63 (1981). The appellant was charged with and convicted of a violation of City of Oak Creek Municipal Ordinance Sec. 9:947:01, adopting sec. 947.01, Stats., which provides: 947.01 Disorderly Conduct. Whoever, in a public or private place, engages in violent, abusive, indecent, profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud or otherwise disorderly conduct under circumstances in which the conduct tends to cause or provoke a disturbance is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor. [2] In State v. Givens, 28 Wis. 2d 109, 115, 135 N.W.2d 780 (1965), this court held that there are two distinct elements of disorderly conduct under sec. 947.01(1), Stats. (1965). [2] First, the conduct must be of the type enumerated in the statute or similar thereto in having a tendency to disrupt good order. Second, the conduct must be engaged in under circumstances which tend to cause or provoke a disturbance. See also State v. Zwicker, 41 Wis. 2d 497, 515, 164 N.W.2d 512, appeal dismissed sub nom. Zwicker v. Wisconsin, 396 U.S. 26 (1969). A review of the record demonstrates that the appellant's conduct does not fall directly into any of the specifically enumerated categories forbidden by sec. 9:947:01. Therefore, the question becomes whether there are any facts in this situation which would sustain the conclusion that the appellant's conduct was otherwise disorderly. In Givens, this court held in regard to sec. 947.01(1), Stats. (1965), When the statute, after the specific enumerations, in a `catchall' clause proscribes `otherwise disorderly conduct' which tends to `provoke a disturbance,' this must mean conduct of a type not previously enumerated but similar thereto in having a tendency to disrupt good order and to provoke a disturbance. Givens, 28 Wis. 2d at 115. `While it is impossible to state with accuracy just what may be considered in law as amounting to disorderly conduct, the term is usually held to embrace all such acts and conduct as are of a nature to corrupt the public morals or to outrage the sense of public decency, whether committed by words or acts.' Id. at 116, quoting Teske v. State, 256 Wis. 440, 444, 41 N.W.2d 642 (1950). Section 947.01, Stats., therefore, proscribes conduct in terms of results which can reasonably be expected therefrom rather than attempting to enumerate the limitless number of antisocial acts which a person could engage in that would menace, disrupt, or destroy public order. State v. Werstein, 60 Wis. 2d 668, 671-72, 211 N.W.2d 437 (1973). Such is especially true in regard to the otherwise disorderly proscription wherein the relatedness of the conduct and the circumstances is of ultimate importance. Id. at 672. In State v. Maker, 48 Wis. 2d 612, 616, 180 N.W.2d 707 (1970), this court stated: This court's emphasis upon the relatedness of conduct and circumstances in the statute is no more than a recognition of the fact that what would constitute disorderly conduct in one set of circumstances, might not under some other. When a famed jurist observed, The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic, the comment related to the crowdedness of the theater as well as to the loudness of the shout. It is the combination of conduct and circumstances that is crucial in applying the statute to a particular situation. (Footnote omitted.) A careful review of Wisconsin cases interpreting the otherwise disorderly provision will demonstrate the importance of a coalescing of conduct and circumstances. In State v. Givens (1965), 28 Wis. 2d 109, 135 N.W.2d 780, we affirmed a conviction for disorderly conduct of several demonstrators who conducted a sit-in in a small municipal office. We found that the otherwise disorderly conduct of the demonstrators may not in another situation be criminally proscribed, but because of the circumstances therein involvedthe forcible entry into and congesting of a small office thereby making its continued functioning impossibletheir conduct was in fact disorderly. Likewise in State v. Zwicker, [41 Wis. 2d 497, 164 N.W.2d 512 (1969)] we deemed the obstruction of the hallways and the use of signs under the circumstance therein involved to constitute disorderly conduct. Under varying circumstances, the displaying of a sign would not be deemed disorderly. Finally, in State v. Elson, [60 Wis. 2d 54, 208 N.W.2d 363 (1973)] we upheld the conviction of an attorney for too vigorously disputing the denial of his right to converse with his client because of the fact that such protestation occurred in the ward of a mental hospital. In each of these cases, convictions for being otherwise disorderly resulted from the inappropriateness of specific conduct because of the circumstances involved. Werstein, 60 Wis. 2d at 672-73. [3] Detective White's job was to prevent anyone except emergency personnel from proceeding into the crash area. He did not know whether there were any crash survivors, whether the crash was of a commercial or military jet, whether there was a continuing threat of fire or explosion, why the plane crashed or whether other members of the media were on the site. Those in authority over particular areas must be accorded discretion to regulate conduct therein. Givens, 28 Wis. 2d at 121. Such regulation, however, must be reasonably designed to preserve good order. The reasonableness of the order to restrict access to the crash site is obvious. The presence of nonemergency personnel would inhibit and perhaps prevent rescue of survivors, fire-fighting efforts, body removal, and evidence-gathering efforts. Furthermore, East College Avenue provided the only means of direct access to the crash site for emergency vehicles. The appellant's defiance of Detective White's reasonable order was done in the presence of other members of the public who were gathered along the fence south of East College Avenue. In a situation which has the potential for significant crowd control problems, common sense dictates that if one person is allowed to openly defy the authority of an officer in charge, others may soon follow. [4, 5] The mere refusal to obey a police command does not ordinarily, however, constitute disorderly conduct. Werstein, 60 Wis. 2d at 676. Mere presence absent any conduct which tends to cause or provoke a disturbance does not constitute disorderly conduct. Id. at 674. To hold without limitation that any violation of a police command, whether or not lawful, constitutes disorderly conduct would be patently violative of the fourteenth amendment. See Gregory v. City of Chicago, 394 U.S. 111 (1969). Therefore, in Werstein, this court determined that the mere presence of demonstrators at an army induction center, together with the demonstrators' refusal to obey an officer's command, did not constitute conduct that was otherwise disorderly. Werstein, 60 Wis. 2d at 676-77. The dissent maintains that the facts in Werstein are analogous to the facts in this case. Dissenting opinion at 557. We fail to see the similarity between the refusal to obey an officer's command at a peaceful demonstration at an army induction center and the actions of the appellant at the scene of this disaster. [6] Consequently, we determine that under the circumstances of this case, the appellant's repeated refusal to obey Detective White's reasonable order in a situation in which crowd control was a major concern, combined with his continued penetration into a non-public restricted area in the presence of the general public, was otherwise disorderly conduct because the appellant's conduct was similar to the conduct enumerated in sec. 9:947:01, in having the tendency to disrupt good order. As such, we find that the first element of disorderly conduct under sec. 9:947:01 is met in this situation. In regard to the second element of disorderly conduct in Wisconsin, we find that the conduct engaged in by the appellant, under the circumstances as they then existed, did tend to cause or provoke a disturbance. It is not necessary that an actual disturbance must have resulted from the appellant's conduct. The law only requires that the conduct be of a type which tends to cause or provoke a disturbance, under the circumstances as they then existed. See comment to proposed sec. 347.01, Stats. (1955), [3] in Wisconsin Legislative Council, Judiciary Committee Report on the Criminal Code, vol. V at 208 (1953). We conclude that the appellant's repeated refusal to obey Detective White's reasonable order, combined with his continued penetration into a nonpublic restricted area in the presence of the general public, was conduct of a type which tends to cause or provoke a disturbance, under the circumstances as they then existed. Therefore, we affirm the decision of the circuit court finding the appellant guilty of disorderly conduct in violation of City of Oak Creek Municipal Ordinance Sec. 9:947:01 because we find that the appellant's conduct was disruptive of good order and tended to cause or provoke a disturbance, and we are satisfied from the record that guilt has been assessed on substantial grounds and not upon hypercritical or supersensitive grounds. See Givens, 28 Wis. 2d at 122.