Opinion ID: 1511122
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Hearing on Motion to Suppress, January 16, 1996

Text: Excerpts from Direct Examination of Officer Looney: Q. Officer Looney, ... on September 5th of 1995 ... 10:00 at night. Were you in uniform? A. Yes, I was. Q. Did you have occasion to meet the bus from New York on that particular date? A. Yes, I did. Q. What did you do? A. Myself and Officer Solge were on the northwest corner of Martin Luther King and French Street conducting surveillance for illegal drug couriers.... [T]he Peter Pan bus runs at certain times, and we just go down there at the times.... [T]he Peter Pan bus arrives between ten and 10:15 at night.... [o]riginating from New York City.       Q. What did you observe? A. We observed ... fifteen to twenty passengers [exit] the bus with the defendant and co-defendant exiting the bus last. Q. What did they do when they got off the bus? A. They were holding a conversation when they were exiting the bus. Once they hit the sidewalk area from the bus, defendant Quarles looked in a southerly direction and observed myself and Officer Solge standing on the corner. Their conversation came to an abrupt halt.       Q. After the conversation came to an abrupt halt, what happened? A. They were motionless for approximately, I'd say, maybe five to ten seconds as if they were trying to figure out which direction they were going to go in.... At that time, they went north, in a northerly direction up French Street towards 2nd. Q. Were they still together? A. Yes. Well, defendant Quarles started walking at a fast pace first and the codefendant finally caught up with him halfway in the block.... While they were walking north on French Street towards 2nd, at three different times defendant Quarles was observed looking over his shoulder to find out what the location of myself and Officer Solge was as they walked up the bus lot.... When they hit the corner of 2nd and French they walked in a westerly direction on 2nd Street. Officer Cunningham was in the parking lot across the street in his marked patrol vehicle. He made eye contact with them, at which time they turned and started walking eastbound on 2nd back towards French with defendant Quarles looking down in a southerly direction to find out where myself and Officer Solge were. Q. They went down to the end of the block and Cunningham was there in a marked car? A. Yes. Q. Then they came back the same way they had come? A. Correct. Q. Where were you when they were coming back? A. We were almost to the intersection of 2nd and French. Q. Were you within view of them? A. Yes. Q. As they came back, what did they do? A. They were still looking around to try and find out which way they were going to go. I guess you could say they were kind of surprised that we were on our way up the street, and there was a police car in the parking lot across the street.... At that time, I approached them and asked if I could speak to them. They stopped walking, said that we could talk to them, and the conversation ensued.       Excerpts from Cross Examination of Officer Looney: Q. Prior to September 5th, 1995 how many times had you done surveillance at either the bus station or the Amtrak train station? A. To date not including this  Q. I'm talking about prior to September 5th, 1995, not after. A. I'd say close to a dozen cases. Q. You had been down there a dozen times? A. No. I mean we've been down there more than that. I'd say we've been down there at least thirty, forty times. Q. What period of time would that cover? A. From, I would say, within about a year. Q. So you go down there maybe once or twice a month, three times a month? A. About that. It depends. Q. On this particular occasion on September 5th, 1995, did you have any tips or intelligence that someone was coming in that particular day at that particular time who might be transporting drugs? A. No, we didn't. Q. You're just down there on a hunch? A. We were down there because the train was coming in at 9:36. Q. You didn't have any information or intelligence about any particular drug activity that particular day? A. No. Q. Now, when you saw Mr. Quarles and the other gentleman get off the bus, you mentioned the fact that they got off the bus last. Did that arouse your suspicion? A. No. Q. Did the fact that they were black arouse your suspicion? A. No. Q. Did the fact that they were carrying these black plastic bags that you described arouse your suspicion? A. No. Q. The fact that they were talking with each other after they got off the bus, was that suspicious? A. No. Q. Did the fact that they ... made eye contract with you ... they stopped talking?       A. ... the conversation abruptly stopped. Q. Did that arouse your suspicion? A. Yes, it did. Q. If they had continued talking, would you have been suspicious? A. Probably not.       Q. And after the one individual saw you, the conversation didn't pick up again? A. No. Q. At that point these two individuals started walking, I think you said, northbound on French Street? A. On French Street with your client walking at a quicker pace than the other one.       Q. Do you know how fast he walks or how slow he normally walks? A. No. Q. So you don't really know whether he was walking at a fast pace for him or not, do you? A. No. Q. In your experience, ... [i]s it unusual for a person in that situation perhaps to be a little disoriented about what direction they might be going in or where they might be going?       A. Everybody looks around when they get off the bus or the train. Q. So that's not unusual, is it? A. Not really, no.       Q. When you were walking up French Street following Mr. Quarles, were there any people in between you? A. Yes.       Q. Were some of them looking at you? A. Yeah. Excerpts from Redirect Examination of Officer Looney: Q. In the forty times you had been there, had you been able to tell the difference between people who are just looking around and people who are looking around suspiciously, at least in your mind. A. Yes. Q. When the fifteen to twenty people that got off the bus before these two got off the bus, did they all look at you or notice you? A. I'm sure they did, yes. Q. Did they do the same kinds of things that these two did with regard to noticing your presence? A. No.       Q. Did any of the other fifteen or twenty people keep looking back to see where you were? A. No. Q. What about you said there were some people waiting to get on the bus. A. Yes. Q. Did you notice any of them looking at you? A. No. Most of the time they just look at us once and that's it. They're happy to see that we're down there. I suppose. Excerpt from Direct Examination of Officer Cunningham: Q. [H]ow many times have you been down there [at the bus station] conducting surveillance just generally? More than fifty? A. Probably.