Court Opinion

ID: 9677714
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:57:53.424434+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:57.935421
License: Public Domain

Coleman, C.J.
(dissenting). We respectfully dissent. The search of defendant’s vehicle and the seizure of the controlled substance did not violate the constitutional prohibitions against unreasonable searches and seizures, US Const, Am IV; Const 1963, art 1, § 11.
The facts are stated in the majority opinion. The majority opinion concludes that the officer’s actions in examining the interior of the vehicle constituted a warrantless search not authorized by Terry v Ohio, 392 US 1; 88 S Ct 1868; 20 L Ed 2d *474889 (1968). We agree that this issue is governed by the principles recognized in Terry.
I
In Terry, the Court upheld an officer’s actions in "patting down” or "frisking” a suspect’s outer clothing during an investigatory stop as a reasonable protective search. The Court stated:
"Our first task is to establish at what point in this encounter the Fourth Amendment becomes relevant.
"The distinctions of classical 'stop-and-frisk’ theory thus serve to divert attention from the central inquiry under the Fourth Amendment — the reasonableness in all the circumstances of the particular governmental invasion of a citizen’s personal security.
"In order to assess the reasonableness of Officer McFadden’s conduct as a general proposition, it is necessary 'first to focus upon the governmental interest which allegedly justifies official intrusion upon the constitutionally protected interests of the private citizen,’
"We are now concerned with more than the governmental interest in investigating crime; in addition, there is the more immediate interest of the police officer in taking steps to assure himself that the person with whom he is dealing is not armed with a weapon that could unexpectedly and fatally be used against him.
"We must still consider, however, the nature and quality of the intrusion on individual rights which must be accepted if police officers are to be conceded the right to search for weapons in situations where probable cause to arrest for crime is lacking. Even a limited search of the outer clothing for weapons constitutes a severe, though brief, intrusion upon cherished personal *475security, and it must surely be an annoying, frightening, and perhaps humiliating experience.
“Our evaluation of the proper balance .that has to be struck in this type of case leads us to conclude that there must be a narrowly drawn authority to permit a reasonable search for weapons for the protection of the police officer, where he has reason to believe that he is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual, regardless of whether he has probable cause to arrest the individual for a crime. The officer need not be absolutely certain that the individual is armed; the issue is whether a reasonably prudent man in the circumstances would be warranted in the belief that his safety or that of others was in danger.” Terry, supra, 16-27.
In Adams v Williams, 407 US 143, 146; 92 S Ct 1921; 32 L Ed 2d 612 (1972), the Supreme Court explained the role of a protective search, stating:
"The purpose of this limited search is not to discover evidence of crime, but to allow the officer to pursue his investigation without fear of violence, and thus the frisk for weapons might be equally necessary and reasonable, whether or not carrying a concealed weapon violated any applicable state law. So long as the officer is entitled to make a forcible stop, and has reason to believe that the suspect is armed and dangerous, he may conduct a weapons search limited in scope to this protective purpose.”
II
The majority begins the analysis with the premise that Terry authorizes only a limited “pat-down” search of a person and not the search of an area. Without addressing the outer limits of the Terry rationale, we reject this distinction as unpersuasive. The opinion in Terry authorized the *476frisking of an overcoat worn by defendant because that was the issue presented by the facts. One could reasonably conclude that a different result would not have been constitutionally required if the overcoat had been carried, folded over the forearm, rather than worn.1 The constitutional principles stated in Terry would still control.
Ill
The majority also concludes that the protective search rationale could not apply in this case because when defendant was standing next to the deputy at the rear of the vehicle, any weapon which may have been inside the car was out of the reach of the defendant and presented no danger, see Government of Canal Zone v Bender, 573 F2d 1329 (CA 5, 1978).
Other courts have upheld protective searches of the interior of a vehicle while the occupants were detained outside the vehicle. Emphasizing that the occupants were not under arrest at the time of the search and could have returned to the vehicle when the encounter with the officers ended, courts have upheld such protective searches, see United States v Wilkerson, 194 US App DC 393; 598 F2d 621 (1978), United States v Powless, 546 F2d 792 (CA 8, 1977), cert den 430 US 910; 97 S Ct 1185; 51 L Ed 2d 588 (1977), United States v Thomas, 314 A2d 464 (DC App, 1974), United States v Green, 151 US App DC 35; 465 F2d 620 (1972), Brown v State, 358 So 2d 596 (Fla App, 1978), State v Darling, 393 A2d 530 (Me, 1978), Commonwealth v Almeida, 373 Mass 266; 366 NE2d 756 (1977), State *477v Gilchrist, 299 NW2d 913 (Minn, 1980), State v Brown, 160 NJ Super 227; 389 A2d 507 (1978), see also Uptegraft v State, 621 P2d 5 (Alas, 1980), Williams v State, 19 Md App 204; 310 A2d 593 (1973).
In contrast to the cases cited, the defendant in this case had an opportunity to enter his vehicle not only after the encounter ended, but also while it continued. Defendant was in the process of entering the vehicle to retrieve his registration records when the officer observed the knife on the floorboard. Defendant’s entry into the vehicle would have permitted him to gain possession of any readily accessible weapons in the vehicle. Accordingly, we cannot summarily reject plaintiffs claim that Terry authorizes a protective search of the vehicle on the basis that no possible danger was present. If the possibility that a suspect will re-enter his vehicle after an encounter ends is sufficient to support a Terry protective search, the fact that he is attempting to enter the vehicle while the confrontation continues is also sufficient.
IV
Therefore, the Court must determine whether the justifications for a Terry search, the protection of the officers and others, justifies the officer’s actions.
In the instant case, the officers were confronting a traffic offense suspect whose car ended up in a ditch. After meeting the deputies at the rear of his car, defendant failed to respond to their questions. Finally, defendant began walking back toward his driver’s door. The defendant appeared to be under the influence of something and acted scared. Ap*478proaching the open door, the officer saw a knife on the floorboard.
These observations gave the officers reason to believe they were dealing with an armed and dangerous person. A reasonably prudent officer would be warranted in believing that he was in danger. Therefore, the officer was permitted to conduct a Terry search.
After picking up the knife, one officer shone his flashlight at the interior of the vehicle.2 He saw a leather pouch under the driver’s armrest large enough to hold a weapon. He raised the armrest and observed an open leather pouch containing a plastic bag of marijuana.
Considering all the circumstances, including that one weapon had already been found and that the leather pouch was large enough to hold another, the officer could have reasonably concluded that safety required further investigation. The lifting of the armrest was an action reasonably designed to uncover a hidden weapon. This action would permit the officer to investigate further by observing whether the contents of the pouch could be inferred from its outward appearance (for example, a gun case or holster), see Arkansas v Sanders, 442 US 753, 764-765, fn 13; 99 S Ct 2586; 61 L Ed 2d 235 (1979), or by patting down or frisking the pouch.
The lifting of the armrest is similar to an officer’s conduct in feeling under a seat or dashboard or lifting a rug. These actions have been upheld in *479a variety of cases when conducted as a protective search, see Wilkerson, supra, Powless, supra, Thomas, supra, Green, supra, Brown, supra, Darling, supra, Almeida, supra, Gilchrist, supra. Without determining the constitutionality of all these actions in every case, because such issues are not present in this case, the cases cited support the conclusion that, on the facts of the instant case, the officer was warranted in believing that safety required that the armrest be lifted.
In contrast to the gravity of the dangers confronting the officers, the raising of the armrest was a minimal intrusion into defendant’s legitimate expectation of privacy. The area underneath an armrest is not a residence or a common repository for personal effects referred to in Sanders, supra. Rather, it is part of an automobile with "the diminished expectation of privacy which surrounds the automobile”, Robbins v California, 453 US 420; 101 S Ct 2841; 69 L Ed 2d 744 (1981) (opinion of Stewart, J.), United States v Chadwick, 433 US 1, 12-13; 97 S Ct 2476; 53 L Ed 2d 538 (1977).
While upholding the constitutionality of a frisk as a protective search, the Supreme Court recognized that
"[e]ven a limited search of the outer clothing for weapons constitutes a severe, though brief, intrusion upon cherished personal security and it must surely be an annoying, frightening and perhaps humiliating experience.” Terry, supra, 24-25.
We conclude that the lifting of the armrest was a minimal intrusion into defendant’s privacy compared to the intrusions upheld in Terry. The raising of the armrest as a protective search in this *480case was not an unreasonable search prohibited by US Const, Am IV; Const 1963, art 1, § 11.
Once the armrest was lifted, the contents of the open pouch, a plastic bag containing marijuana, were in the plain view of the officer. The officer properly seized the contraband and arrested defendant, Harris v United States, 390 US 234; 88 S Ct 992; 19 L Ed 2d 1067 (1968).
A review of the other issues raised by defendant discloses no reversible error, see South Dakota v Opperman, 428 US 364; 96 S Ct 3092; 49 L Ed 2d 1000 (1976).

 See Bromwell v State, 427 A2d 884 (Del, 1981), and the cases cited below.

 Defendant does not argue that this action was an unconstitutional search, see People v Whalen, 390 Mich 672; 213 NW2d 116 (1973).