Opinion ID: 1940539
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: district court precedent

Text: Assuming that the majority is actually stating that there was a detention resting on a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, its holding departs not only from Popple but also from well-established district court precedent that largely relies on Popple. In Parsons v. State, 825 So.2d 406 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002), the officer observed the defendant passed out in a parked car at 1:40 a.m. with binoculars in his lap. See id. at 408. The parked vehicle was located in a small parking lot adjacent to a temporary employment agency and across the street from a motel frequented by prostitutes. The area in which the defendant was parked was allegedly a high-crime area. See id. The officer awoke the defendant, who appeared nervous and began sweating and shaking. A subsequent license check revealed that the defendant was a convicted sex offender. See id. Although the deputy testified that he thought Parsons might be intoxicated upon first approaching him, by the time he performed the license check nothing suggested that the deputy still believed Parsons might be intoxicated. See id. at 409. In an opinion authored by Judge Altenbernd, the Second District held that although the information possessed by the deputy might have been sufficient for him to make Parsons exit his automobile, there was no reasonable suspicion to justify the detention, as neither the officer nor the State could articulate a crime connected to these facts that would support a Terry stop. Id. In Baker v. State, 754 So.2d 154, 154 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000), the officer observed the defendant in a van near a closed business at 3 a.m. When the defendant saw the officer, he got out of the van, lifted the hood, tinkered with the engine, got back into the van, started the engine and, with a thumbs up sign to the officer, pulled away from the curb. Id. In an opinion authored by Judge Harris, the Fifth District held that the fact that the defendant was parked late at night near a closed business did not establish grounds for a Terry stop. Id. The Fifth District reasoned: The officer had no reasonable grounds for suspicion that the closed business had been or was about to be burgled. Even the additional fact that another person, who so far as the officer knew was unconnected with Baker, was walking near the closed business does not help. Baker's effort to leave the area after the adjustment, or feigned adjustment, of his battery was nothing more than walking away from the officer. Id. at 154-55. Finally in State v. Taylor, 826 So.2d 399 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002), the officer approached a vehicle legally parked at 4:30 a.m. in an affluent, predominantly white area of northern Miami-Dade County. Id. at 400. After passing the vehicle a second time, he noticed a man inside the vehicle. The officer approached the vehicle, asked the man to exit, and inquired why he was in the area. The man responded that he used to live in the area. The officer also observed that although the defendant was cooperative, he appeared nervous. She then asked for identification. The defendant produced a valid Florida driver's license, which the officer took to her car to run a check. In examining whether the totality of the circumstances justified the stop, the Third District held, in an opinion written by Judge Shevin: This case is controlled by the holding in Popple. It is well-settled that merely observing an individual in a legally parked car is insufficient to raise a well-founded suspicion of criminal activity sufficient to support a stop. Popple held that a legally parked car, even one in a desolate area, does not create reasonable suspicion to justify a detention. In Popple, the police only observed the defendant sitting in a legally parked car making furtive movements at 12:55 p.m. prior to the detention. The supreme court found that Popple's suppression motion should have been granted. Under that holding, Taylor's suppression motion was properly granted. This case is virtually indistinguishable from Miranda v. State, 816 So.2d 132 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002), Alvarez v. State, 695 So.2d 1263 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997), and the cases cited therein. In Miranda, the arresting officer observed a legally parked car in the back of an apartment complex parking lot at 5:00 a.m. in an area of prior criminal activity. The court held that this observation was insufficient to create reasonable suspicion that a crime had, or was about, to occur, and reversed the denial of a suppression motion. Here, Malone observed nothing more than the officer in Miranda. In Alvarez, police observed the defendant seated in a legally parked car adjacent to an apartment complex at 4:00 a.m. The officers asked the defendant to exit his car based on their general suspicion that he might be committing a crime. There had been no reports of burglaries, thefts, or other criminal activity in the area that evening. In reversing the denial of Alvarez's suppression motion, the court concluded that the officers did not have reasonable suspicion to believe the defendant was committing a crime. The Alvarez scenario mirrors the events leading to Taylor's detention. Id. at 403-04 (footnote omitted). The Third District also cited to numerous additional cases, including Parsons and Baker, holding that observation of an individual in a legally parked car does not justify a detention. See id. at 403 n. 6.