Court Opinion

ID: 9752786
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 18:34:54.684731+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:22.172821
License: Public Domain

POPOVICH, Judge,
dissenting:
The present appeal is before this court upon remand from the United States Supreme Court which vacated our previous judgment in Commonwealth v. Ogborne, 384 Pa.Super. 604, 559 A.2d 931 (1989), and ordered this court to review our decision in light of Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325,110 S.Ct. 2412, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990). Finding Alabama v. White, supra, distinguishable on its facts from the case sub judice, I respectfully dissent from the opinion of the majority-
Once again, the issue presented is whether the police conducted a valid investigatory stop, i.e., a Terry stop,1 prior to the search and seizure of evidence. Having complied with the United States Supreme Court’s directive, I again conclude that the investigatory stop of appellant was illegal. Therefore, I, unlike the majority, would reaffirm our previous decision in this matter.
The record reveals the following facts: Delaware County Detective Greenwalt returned a telephone call from a confi*172dential informant who had previously provided police with reliable information concerning drug activities. The informant told Detective Greenwalt that appellant would be driving a black Dodge automobile and would arrive later that same evening at the 100 block of Saude Avenue, Tinicum Township, appellant’s residence. He further informed the officer that appellant would possess phencyclidine or P.C.P. when he arrived. During this conversation, Detective Greenwalt was neither told nor did he attempt to discover the informant’s basis of knowledge.
Detective Greenwalt knew appellant had been involved in P.C.P. distribution several years earlier. The detective also confirmed that appellant resided at 115 Saude Avenue and that a black Dodge was often parked in front of that property. The police began surveillance, and, at approximately 11:20 p.m., appellant arrived at his home and pulled into his driveway. The police then blocked the driveway, and four or five officers surrounded appellant’s car. Eventually, Detective Greenwalt opened the driver’s side door and ordered appellant to shut off the car’s engine. At that time, Detective Greenwalt said he smelled the odor of P.C.P. and ordered appellant to exit the car. A search of appellant and the vehicle revealed a large quantity of P.C.P.
In Alabama v. White, supra, the police received an anonymous telephone tip that White would be leaving a particular apartment at a particular time in a particular vehicle, that she would be going to a particular hotel and that she would be in possession of an ounce of cocaine inside a brown attache case. The police then observed White leave the apartment at the predicted time in the particular vehicle and proceed to the particular hotel. After stopping her several blocks from the hotel, the police obtained White’s consent to a search of her brown attache case. The search of the case revealed a quantity of marijuana. A subsequent search of her purse revealed cocaine.
Based on those facts, the United States Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama and held the anonymous tip, as corroborated by *173independent police work, exhibited sufficient indicia of reliability to provide reasonable suspicion for the investigatory stop. Significantly, the Justices noted that the anonymous informant was able to predict White’s “future behavior” with particularity. The Justices reasoned, “Because only a small number of people are generally privy to an individual’s itinerary, it is reasonable for police to believe that a person with access to such information is likely to also have access to reliable information about the individual’s illegal activities.” Alabama v. White, 110 S.Ct. at 2417.
Comparing our facts to those of Alabama v. White, supra, the informant sub judice also predicted “future behavior”, i.e., that appellant would arrive at his home in his car sometime later that evening. However, as stated in our prior Ogbome decision, “the actions of appellant were perfectly innocent. He arrived at his residence without any proof of criminal wrongdoing present.” Ogborne, 384 Pa.Superior Ct. at 611, 559 A.2d at 935. Instantly, the informant merely predicted that appellant would drive his car home during a particular evening. Clearly, there was nothing remotely unusual about appellant’s actions; eventually, almost everyone who leaves home returns. Likewise, there was nothing especially intimate or detailed about the information herein provided to the police. The knowledge that a person will return to their own home while driving their own car, without more, certainly does not demonstrate that the informant possessed intimate knowledge of the suspect’s legal or illegal activities.
Unlike the informant in Alabama v. White, supra, who had detailed knowledge of White’s itinerary, Detective Greenwalt’s informant simply did not provide sufficiently particular information concerning appellant’s itinerary such that it would be reasonable to assume that he was also likely to possess reliable information about appellant’s alleged illegal activities. Basically, anyone who knew appellant could have provided the police with the identical information. In other words, the corroboration in this case was insignificant. Analogizing a quote from the dissent of *174Justice Stevens in White, supra, to the present case, “Anybody with enough knowledge about a given person to make [him] the target of a prank, or to harbor a grudge against [him] will certainly be able to formulate a tip about [him] like the one predicting [appellant’s return home].” Alabama v. White, 110 S.Ct. at 2418.
Surprisingly, in the present case, the police officers knew the informant and, yet, neglected to act prudently and inquire into the informant’s basis of knowledge concerning the tip. Outside of the informant’s unsupported allegation that appellant was transporting P.C.P., the Commonwealth cannot point to a single fact upon which to premise the Terry stop of appellant. Based on the information at hand, I cannot agree with the majority and the Commonwealth that Detective Greenwalt possessed information sufficient to create the reasonable suspicion necessary for a valid Terry stop, even when viewed in the light of Alabama v. White, supra. This is especially true given the fact the Justices recognized that Alabama v. White, supra, was itself a “close” case. 110 S.Ct. at 2417.
Certainly, there are times when an unverified tip, although insufficient to establish probable cause, nevertheless is sufficient to justify a Terry stop. See Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 147, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 1924, 32 L.Ed.2d 612, 617-18 (1972). In Adams v. Williams, supra, the high court sustained a Terry stop and frisk undertaken on the basis of a tip given in person to a police officer by a known, reliable informant. However, in that case, the informant, at 2:15 a.m., approached the officer, stationed in a high crime area, and informed him that an individual seated in a nearby vehicle was carrying narcotics and had a gun at his waist. The officer, who knew the informant, approached the vehicle and tapped on the window. The suspect rolled down the window whereupon the officer was able to see the handgun. The suspect was then arrested, and the search incident to a lawful arrest uncovered, inter alia, a large quantity of heroin.
*175In sustaining the search in Adams v. Williams, supra, the Supreme Court noted that the information provided “was immediately verifiable at the scene.” 407 U.S. at 146, 92 S.Ct. at 1923. The fact that the officer found the suspect in possession of a handgun in precisely the place predicted by the informant corroborated the reliability of the tip. That, taken together with the surrounding circumstances, provided probable cause for the subsequent search of the vehicle. 407 U.S. at 148-149, 92 S.Ct. at 1924-1925. Further, the initial Terry stop was approved because of the officer’s need to insure his own safety due to possibility that the proximate suspect was armed. 407 U.S. at 148, 92 S.Ct. at 1924.
Unlike the case before us, Adams v. Williams, supra, demonstrates when a tip from a reliable informant, corroborated by police, is sufficient to raise the reasonable suspicion necessary for a Terry stop. Presently, appellant was not involved in suspicious activity of any kind, corroboration of an alleged illegal act was not obtained and the officers did not fear for their safety.2 As stated in Adams v. Williams, supra, “Some tips, completely lacking in indicia of reliability, would either warrant no police response or require further investigation before a forcible stop of a suspect would be authorized.” 407 U.S. at 147, 92 S.Ct. at 1924. Such was the case presently. I submit, “[s]imply put, a tip such as this one, standing alone, would not ‘warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief’ that a [stop] was appropriate.” Alabama v. White, 110 S.Ct. at 2416, quoting Terry, 392 U.S. at 22, 88 S.Ct. at 1880, quoting Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 162, 45 S.Ct. 280, 288, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925).
In conclusion, I would hold that in Pennsylvania, police may not conduct a valid investigatory stop based solely on a confidential informant’s unsupported and essentially uncor-
*176roborated allegation that a particular individual is in possession of drugs. Herein, I do not imply that a reliable informant’s tip may never be sufficient to justify a Terry stop. However, absent exigent circumstances, admittedly not present here, an unsupported allegation that an individual is in possession of narcotics may not be used to justify an investigative stop. I am convinced that such an allegation, absent corroboration which demonstrates that the informant possesses intimate knowledge of the suspect’s activities, does not give rise to the necessary “ ‘minimal level of objective justification’ for making the stop.” United States v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 109 S.Ct. 1581, 1585, 104 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989), quoting INS v. Delgado, 466 U.S. 210, 217, 104 S.Ct. 1758, 1763, 80 L.Ed.2d 247 (1984). Finding no such intimate knowledge presently, I am convinced that Alabama v. White, supra, is distinguishable, and accordingly, I dissent.

. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).

. Further, Detective Greenwalt admittedly neglected to inquire as to his informant’s basis of knowledge. Therefore, with the exception of the informant’s previous “reliable” tips, the detective did not possess any reasonable basis to assume this tip was any more reliable than one from an anonymous caller.