Opinion ID: 751710
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fourth Amendment Violations: 1. Probable Cause to Search

Text: Plaintiff's Vehicle 9 Plaintiff first asserts that the District Court erred in concluding that the defendants did not violate his Fourth Amendment rights because probable cause existed to search his vehicle to determine whether it was stolen. Pursuant to the automobile exception to the warrant requirement, an officer may search a readily mobile vehicle without a warrant if he has probable cause to believe that the vehicle contains evidence of a crime. See California v. Carney, 471 U.S. 386, 390-94, 105 S.Ct. 2066, 2068-71, 85 L.Ed.2d 406 (1985); United States v. Wright, 16 F.3d 1429, 1437 (6th Cir.1994). We define probable cause as reasonable grounds for belief, supported by less than prima facie proof but more than mere suspicion. United States v. Bennett, 905 F.2d 931, 934 (6th Cir.1990). Probable cause exists when there is a  'fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.'  Wright, 16 F.3d at 1437 (quoting Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2332, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983)). Determining whether probable cause existed at the time of the search is a  'commonsense, practical question' to be judged from the 'totality-of-the-circumstances.'  Id. (quoting Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 230, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 2338, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983)). In determining whether probable cause exists, we may not look to events that occurred after the search or to the subjective intent of the officers; instead, we look to the objective facts known to the officers at the time of the search. See United States v. Ferguson, 8 F.3d 385, 391-92 (6th Cir.1993)(en banc ). 10 We conclude that probable cause existed to search plaintiff's readily mobile vehicle due to the facts known to the officers at the time. Those facts were as follows: (1) an unoccupied expensive car was haphazardly parked at 12:40 a.m. in a high crime area; (2) the engine was running; (3) the headlights were on; (3) the doors were unlocked; (4) the radio was turned on; (5) stolen vehicles are frequently abandoned with their engines running because the ignitions have been tampered with during the theft process; (6) Green Hills Apartments was known to the officers as a dumping ground for stolen vehicles and an area from which they had recovered many stolen vehicles; (7) the Dodge Stealth is a frequently stolen vehicle; and (8) the unlocked and running car was parked only a few feet from a drug bust and within easy reach of any member of the crowd which gathered. Under these circumstances, the officers had probable cause to believe the Stealth may have been a stolen vehicle and, thus, enter the vehicle to determine whether it had been tampered with or to determine the identity of the owner. There is a dispute of fact regarding whether Officer Thornburg opened the glove compartment of Smith's vehicle during his search. Examining the facts in a light most favorable to plaintiff, we assume that Thornburg did open the glove compartment. However, we conclude that Thornburg was justified in doing so in order to assess the identity of the owner of the car. Common sense dictates that a cursory inspection of a vehicle's glove compartment may provide information from which an officer could determine the owner of the vehicle. 11 Plaintiff, however, stresses that his vehicle was on private, not public property, and thus police officers could not conduct a warrantless search of his automobile. In support of his contention that his vehicle was parked on private property, plaintiff submitted the affidavit of an employee of the Engineering Department of the City of Knoxville who attested that the parking area for Green Hills Apartments is private property. However, both plaintiff and the officers believed that the car was parked on public property. 12 Assuming that the complex parking lot is private property and that the distinction changes the Fourth Amendment analysis under the facts of this case, we conclude that the search of the vehicle was nevertheless lawful. First, exigent circumstances permitted the officers to conduct a warrantless examination of a vehicle that was unlocked and running in an area where a crowd had gathered. In only a matter of seconds, an individual could have taken the car or the car could have injured any member of the crowd or a police officer had it slipped out of gear. It would have been unreasonable to expect the officers to determine first whether the property, appearing to be public even to the plaintiff, was instead private property and to then seek a warrant upon learning that the property was indeed private. 13 Second, the manner in which plaintiff parked his car violated section 55-8-162 of the Tennessee Code which provides: 14 No person driving or in charge of a motor vehicle shall permit it to stand unattended without first stopping the engine, locking the ignition, and effectively setting the brake thereon and, when standing upon any grade, turning the front wheels to the curb or side of the highway. 15 Tenn.Code Ann. § 55-8-162. Under the community caretaking function enunciated by the Supreme Court in Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433, 93 S.Ct. 2523, 37 L.Ed.2d 706 (1973), we conclude that officers were entitled to enter the car without a warrant in order to protect themselves and the public from the danger created by the manner in which plaintiff's car was left unattended. See Dombrowski, 413 U.S. at 448, 93 S.Ct. at 2531 (warrantless search of an automobile permissible where police suspected the car contained a gun and was vulnerable to intrusion); see also United States v. Rohrig, 98 F.3d 1506 (6th Cir.1996)(warrantless entry into house permitted in order to abate the ongoing nuisance of loud music). We, thus, cannot conclude that their actions were unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. 16 Lastly, even if we were to assume that a warrantless search of the vehicle on private property was unlawful under the Fourth Amendment, we would conclude that the officers' reasonable mistake of fact in presuming that the property was public would be protected by qualified immunity. See Pray v. City of Sandusky, 49 F.3d 1154, 1159-62 (6th Cir.1995)(officers' reasonable mistake in entering residence other than the one authorized by the search warrant was protected by qualified immunity until the point when officers knew or should have known a mistake had been made). 17 For all of these reasons, the District Court correctly concluded that the defendants did not violate plaintiff's Fourth Amendment rights. 18 2. Probable Cause to Arrest Plaintiff/False Imprisonment 19 Plaintiff also alleges the defendants violated his Fourth Amendment rights when they arrested him for assault without probable cause. 7 Section 39-13-101 of the Tennessee Code defines assault as either: 20
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22 (3) Intentionally or knowingly caus[ing] physical contact with another and a reasonable person would regard the contact as extremely offensive or provocative. 23 Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-13-101. We reject plaintiff's first argument that his conduct did not fall within any of the definitions of assault set forth above. We have little doubt that grabbing Officer Thornburg by the shirt and pants and pulling him out of the car constitutes an assault under § 39-13-101(3). Plaintiff contends, however, that he had an absolute right under § 39-11-614(a) of the Tennessee Code to use force against Officer Thornburg in order to protect his property. That section provides: 24 (a) A person in lawful possession of real or personal property is justified in threatening or using force against another when and to the degree it is reasonably believed the force is immediately necessary to prevent or terminate the other's trespass on the land or unlawful interference with the property. 25 Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-11-614(a). In order to determine whether the warrantless arrest was constitutional under the Fourth Amendment, we must determine whether probable cause existed for the arrest. The question we must answer is  'whether, at the moment the arrest was made, the officers had probable cause to make it--whether at that moment the facts and circumstances within their knowledge and of which they had reasonable trustworthy information were sufficient to warrant a prudent man in believing that the [suspect] had committed or was committing an offense.'  Donovan v. Thames, 105 F.3d 291, 298 (6th Cir.1997)(quoting Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 91, 85 S.Ct. 223, 225, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964)). 26 We disagree with plaintiff's contention that defendants did not have probable cause to arrest him for assault because he had a right to use force to protect his property pursuant to § 39-11-614(a). Under the Tennessee provision, an owner of property may use that force which is immediately necessary to prevent or terminate a trespass on the land or unlawful interference with the property. Because we have concluded that Officer Thornburg was lawfully inside of plaintiff's vehicle, Officer Thornburg was not unlawfully interfering with plaintiff's property. Furthermore, although plaintiff contends he never saw any of the marked police uniforms or Thornburg's police jacket, the facts and circumstances within the knowledge of the arresting officers were that plaintiff knowingly pulled a police officer with force out of the vehicle thereby committing an assault upon a police officer. In determining whether probable cause to arrest exists, the knowledge of the arresting officers, not the suspect, is determinative. Under these circumstances, the officers could have reasonably believed that § 39-11-614(a) would not apply where an identified police officer, in the vicinity of fifteen to twenty other identified police officers is, without warning, 8 pulled out of a vehicle he is lawfully inspecting to determine whether it is stolen. 27 Thus, the District Court properly concluded that the facts known to the officers were sufficient to warrant a prudent officer in believing that plaintiff had committed an offense. 9