Court Opinion

ID: 9785356
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 21:34:43.045804+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:20.296100
License: Public Domain

Justice MARTINEZ,
dissenting.
The majority concludes that McClain was not seized until after he dropped a clear plastic bag, thus legitimizing a stop made under troubling cireumstances. After a careful review of the facts in this case and our controlling legal authority, I conclude that the determinative facts of this case are unclear and neither the record nor the trial court's findings are sufficient to permit adequate appellate review. This case should be remanded for the creation of an adequate record upon which we can base our holding. Because the record does not support an outright reversal, I respectfully dissent.
We can say that the following facts are clear from the record: two uniformed police officers were patrolling in their police cruiser in the middle of a weekday afternoon, when they saw two African-American men, McClain and another, walking eastbound on the sidewalk of East Colfax. When asked, the driver of the patrol car testified they intended to stop the men because: "It's been -.. [my] experience within the area that these particular people, you know, basically are up to no good." He later added that MeClain's companion was walking in "an idle state of mind."
Both officers testified that neither man did anything illegal; neither did anything unusual or even changed their stride or gait when the patrol car slowed down as it passed by them; neither man flagged down cars, argued, fought with others, contacted passersby, or exchanged money with anyone on the street.
Nonetheless, the officers decided to stop and question the men. The reason one officer gave, while on the stand, for deciding to stop the men was that he "had a feeling that [the men were] up to no good." He explained to the court that he slowed the patrol car to a speed of ten to fifteen miles per hour as they passed the men, and "had to make a U-turn, in which time that's when we cut them off." The other officer testified that they pulled in "nose-to-nose" with another car and that the men would have to pass by the vehicle to go on their way.
The prosecuting attorney had one officer make a diagram that described what the officer meant when he testified that they pulled in "nose-to-nose" with another car and "cut-off" McClain and his companion. Though the diagram was entered into evidence, we do not have that diagram before us. Without the diagram, it is impossible to determine from the record if the officers vehicle blocked the sidewalk preventing McClain from continuing forward without stepping around the officers' car, or if the vehicle merely crossed the line of travel but did not actually block their path. Both officers testified that as they pulled up to the men, McClain ended up behind another parked car.
In describing what happened next, both officers said that they had to call out to the men and order them to come over and that they had to walk toward the men to arrest them.1 The trial court's findings indicate only that the officers ordered him over, that McClain approached the officers and was handcuffed, but not that the officers approached McClain. Thus, it is not clear whether McClain stopped and had to be ordered over and was also approached by the officers, or whether McClain kept walking and the officers' order merely reinforced what their actions had already conveyed: that the officers wanted to talk to the men. We know from both testimony and the trial court's findings that McClain was observed throwing something to the ground. While McClain was patted down and placed in handcuffs, MecClain's companion ran away but was caught. They were both arrested and the bag was found, which later was determined to be a controlled substance.
*793There are at least three possible scenarios surrounding the officers' description of what happened: 1) that McClain stopped walking and dropped the bag, and had to be ordered over, or 2) that he stopped walking just after dropping the bag and had to be ordered over, or 3) he kept walking as the officers ordered him over and dropped the bag along the way. As I explain below, the first two would be evidence that he was seized before he dropped the bag, the third may also be evidence he was seized before he dropped the bag, but presents a more ambiguous case.
The trial court, interpreting these facts, seems to have concluded that the men were seized prior to being arrested as part of an evolving investigatory stop. The trial court also suggests that McClain's pre-arrest seizure was justified by reasonable suspicion. In any event, the court went on to hold that the officers lacked probable cause to escalate the seizure into an arrest, and suppressed all statements and evidence. However, it is impossible to determine from the trial court's findings, or from the officers' testimony, whether McClain was seized before or after he dropped the bag. Other aspects of the record are clear however.
The record clearly reflects through the officers' testimony that neither man was doing anything illegal or acting in any manner to justifiably arouse the officers' suspicion. Further, the officer's derogatory comments, referring to the men as "these particular people," having "an idle state of mind," and labeling them being "up to no good" by walking down the street, are troubling. Because he made these comments to justify stopping McClain and his companion, this case calls for a careful examination of our Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. Unfortunately, a close examination of the record and the trial court's order fails to clarify the issues raised by this troubling stop.
I. Consensual Encounters Between Police and Citizens
When a citizen has an encounter with law enforcement officials, the encounter is consensual only if a reasonable person would feel free to leave and ignore or disregard the officer and continue on their way. See Mich-igam v. Chesternut, 486 U.S. 567, 578-74, 108 S.Ct. 1975, 100 L.Ed.2d 565 (1988); Outlaw
v. People, 17 P.3d 150, 156 (Colo.2001); People v. Caseio, 982 P.2d 1881, 1885 (Colo.1997). The right of every citizen to remain free from unreasonable government intrusion when they walk the streets remains a bulwark of our ordered liberty. Terry v. Oko, 392 U.S. 1, 9, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)(citing Union Pac. R. Co. v. Botsford, 141 U.S. 250, 251, 11 S.Ct. 1000, 85 L.Ed. 784 (1891). Courts have the responsibility to protect individuals from police conduct that is over-bearing, harassing, or offensive to personal liberty without the objective eviden-tiary justification required by constitutional safeguards. Terry, 392 U.S. at 15, 88 S.Ct. 1868.
We require officers to have a reasonable articulable suspicion that criminal activity is afoot before seizing a citizen on the street, even for investigatory purposes, in order to protect citizens from police conduct offensive to the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Colorado's Constitution, article II, section 7. Terry, 392 U.S. at 21, 88 S.Ct. 1868; People v. Padgett, 982 P.2d 810, 813 (Colo.1997). Absent a reasonable suspicion, it is illegal for the police to seize an individual walking down the street minding his own business, unless that individual consents to stop and talk with the police. Outlaw, 17 P.3d at 159. The police may not detain an individual, even momentarily, without reasonable grounds for the detention. Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 498, 108 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed2d 229 (1988). We make an objective determination of reasonableness by examining the totality of the circumstances surrounding the encounter. Id. at 155.
There is no per se rule that designates specific conduct as a seizure. People v. Paynter, 955 P.2d 68, 73 (Colo.1998). The United States Supreme Court has recognized that "this test is necessarily imprecise, because it is designed to assess the coercive effect of police conduct, taken as a whole, rather than to focus on particular details of that conduct in isolation." Chesternut, 486 U.S. at 578, 108 S.Ct. 1975. Accordingly, a trial court must examine "the behavior of the parties, as well as the physical, temporal, and social context of the encounter." Outlaw, 17 P.3d at 156. Thus, we examine the officers' *794actions and behavior, from an objective point of view, and determine, under the totality of the cireumstances, whether a reasonable person would no longer feel free to leave. Critical to this analysis is knowing whether the officers' show of authority was sufficient to effectuate a seizure and whether McClain subsequently submitted.
II. Show of Authority
When officers make a show of force or authority that a reasonable person would submit to, the suspect is seized. United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 553-54, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 LEd.2d 497 (1980). Normally, the subjective intent of the officers to stop or detain an individual is not considered when determining if a stop occurred. Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 818, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 185 LEd.2d 89 (1996). While the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution is violated by selective enforcement of the law based on race, the Fourth Amendment is not. Id. However, the subjective intent of the officer to seize a person is relevant when that intent is demonstrated objectively, by the officer's behavior, and conveyed to the seized person. See Royer, 460 U.S. at 501-02, 108 S.Ct. 1819 (finding that when officers identify themselves, tell the defendant he was suspected of transporting narcotics, and retain his identification documents, defendant was effectively seized by that show of authority). However, when a person runs away from the police's show of authority, he cannot be seized by a mere show of authority, but must instead be physically detained by the police before they are considered legally seized. California v. Ho-dari D., 499 U.S. 621, 627, 111 S.Ct. 1547, 113 L.Ed.2d 690 (1991).2
Here, the officers' show of authority may have seized McClain: the officers slowed down their vehicle, made a U-turn and then quickly parked nose-to-nose with another car in such a way as to "cut-off" McClain. Next, the police officers stepped out of the car looking directly at McClain and his companion. Both officers testified they intended to seize McClain, and their actions may have been consistent with their intent. MeClain responded by staying at the scene; his companion ran. Thus, both McClain and his companion responded to the officers' objective demonstration of their intent to stop the men.
The United States Supreme Court and the Colorado Supreme Court have both recognized that an officer's operation of his patrol car in an aggressive manner to block a defendant's course of travel or otherwise control his direction of movement is a sufficient show of force to seize a person. Chesternut, 486 U.S. at 575, 108 S.Ct. 1975 (distinguishing the facts of its case and concluding that a seizure could have occurred if the officers had used the patrol car in an aggressive manner to block the defendant's direction of travel); Outlaw, 17 P.8d at 156 (holding that the police seized the defendant when they drove on the sidewalk behind the defendant, followed alongside him in the wrong lane of traffic, and ultimately called the defendant over to the patrol car).
The officers' actions here could easily be a legally sufficient show of force. Like the officers in Outlaw, the officers here used the car to alter the direction of travel of the men. They did so right in front of the men and they exited the car while looking directly at them. It appears likely that McClain understood the officers' intent to stop and talk with him because his actions seem to indicate that he knew the officers were going to talk to him regardless of his consent.3 The problem is that we do not know, from the record of the trial court's findings, what the officers actually did to "cut-off" McClain. If MecClain's direction of travel was blocked and he stopped walking before he dropped the bag, the officers' actions would be sufficient to seize McClain under our Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. If they did not block the sidewalk and McClain kept walking toward the officers without stopping, he may have consented to speak with them. Thus, we cannot, on these scarce facts and in good *795conscience, definitively decide whether the officers' show of force was sufficient to seize McClain before he dropped the bag.
III. Submission to Authority
In many cases, an officer's show of force is sufficient by itself to seize a person, such as when officers physically grab or tackle someone. Hodari D., 499 U.S. at 628, 111 S.Ct. 1547. When officers assert their authority without physical force, courts also look toward the suspect's actions for an objective indication of submission to the officer's show of force. Id. For example, a person is seized if they respond to a command to come back and talk with officers. Padgett, 982 P.2d at 816. We have also found that a person is seized by officer actions that objectively convey to the suspect that they intend to seize a person and that person demonstrates he understands himself to be seized. Outlaw, 17 P.3d at 156 (finding that a suspect was seized after "the police made a show of force by their conduct with the car that altered Outlaw's direction of travel"); see Hodari D., 499 U.S. at 628, 111 S.Ct. 1547 (implicitly holding that a show of authority that produces a stop is a seizure under the Fourth Amendment); Royer, 460 U.S. at 501-02, 103 S.Ct. 1319 (holding that a person is seized when their means of escape is obstructed by the authorities). On the other hand, a person is not seized if they run away. Hodari D., 499 U.S. at 628, 111 S.Ct. 1547. Therefore, determining whether a person is seized by a show of force, absent the use of physical force, requires a fact-specific inquiry focusing on the person's response to the officer's conduct.
If a person is standing still on a sidewalk, and an officer walks up to him, he is not seized. Royer, 460 U.S. at 497, 108 S.Ct. 1319. However, if an officer draws his gun and then orders the person to take his hands out of his pockets, he is seized whether or not he obeys. People v. Mack, 33 P.8d 1211, 1215 (Colo.App.2001), cert. denied, (Oct. 29, 2001). Alternatively, if a person is walking on a sidewalk hnd an officer blocks his path and calls him over, he is seized if he walks toward the officers, but not seized if he walks away. Outlaw, 17 P.S8d at 159; United States v. Harris, 818 F.3d 1228, 1234 (10th Cir.2002). Finally, a delay in submission to a show of authority does not mean that the suspect was not seized prior to his manifestation of submission. See United States v. Taylor, 95 Fed.Appx. 957, 960-61 (10th Cir. 2004)(where defendants were seized at the time they abandoned a gun even though they kept driving away from the officers for some distance). Thus, determining whether or not a suspect has submitted to authority requires a clear understanding of the cireumstances and a descriptive record indicating the officer's actions and the suspect's response to the show of force.
Our holding in Outlaw v. People is instructive. In Outlaw, officers drove their patrol car onto a sidewalk, followed for a few feet, pulled off the sidewalk and followed behind, still in their car, for about fifteen feet. Outlaw, 17 P.3d at 153-54. The police then summoned Outlaw to them. Id. We found that "a reasonable person in Outlaw's position would ... view the police conduct as a command to stop." Id. at 156. The police, through their use of the car, made a show of force and altered the direction of travel. Id. This action seized the suspect. Id. Because the officers did not have any reasonable basis to stop Outlaw, the trial court was reversed and the evidence suppressed. Id. at 159.
This determination was possible in Outlaw because, in that case, the record was sufficiently clear about the actions of the officers and the accused. Here, we have an extremely short time frame, mere seconds between the officers' show of force and the arrest of McClain. To draw a line that clearly demarcates when McClain is seized is difficult under any cireumstances. Here, given the paucity of facts, any line could be drawn, but none could be supported. The facts we do know support a finding that McClain submitted to the officers either just before or just after he dropped the bag; the difference is a second at most.
To summarize, the officers pulled into a parking lot and "cut-off" McClain and his companion, pulled in "nose-to-nose" with another parked vehicle, and forced McClain to "pass by in order to keep going." McClain somehow ended up behind another parked car (though it is not clear if it is the one with which the officers parked nose-to-nose). *796McClain was no longer on the sidewallk-instead he was in the parking lot.4 The trial court found that after the officers pulled into the lot "the two vehicles were behind a parked car." From this confusing record, we cannot determine the position of the officers, the vehicle, or McClain.
If the officers were parked in such a way as to block MecClain's direction of travel, under Outlaw, McClain was seized before he dropped the bag. MeClain's actions could support a finding that MeClain submitted because, unlike his companion, he did not run. If McClain stopped walking before he dropped the bag he would have submitted to their authority and was seized." On the other hand, if the officers did not block the sidewalk and McClain did not stop walking but merely dropped the bag on the way to an inevitable conversation with the officers, he may have consented. However, if he walked toward the officers because he did not feel free to ignore them, he submitted and was seized. While we do not know what actually happened from this record, it is clear that the officers, McClain, and the trial judge did.
Interestingly, both the officers and McClain subjectively understood that McClain was seized (in contrast to his companion who ran). -It is curious that, while the trial court also appears to have found that the men were seized, the majority reaches a different conclusion, though relying on the trial court's findings.
IV. The Trial Court's Findings
_ The factual question we are faced with is whether the record supports the trial court's finding that McClain was seized prior to dropping the bag. If he was, the evidence should be suppressed, if not, the majority may be correct. However, the trial court's ruling should be given great deference and should stand undisturbed unless unsupported by the record. People v. Quezada, 781 P.2d 730, 782-88 (Colo.1987)(citing Maine v. Taylor, 477 U.S. 181, 145, 106 S.Ct. 2440, 91 L.Ed.2d 110 (1986)). In a case such as this, however, it is clear that for appropriate appellate review, more information is required. See People v. Vazquez, 106 P.3d 1039, 1039 (Colo.2005)(reviewing a case for a second time after an initial remand for special findings of fact).
The trial court's ruling from the bench begins with an understanding that the situation was an evolving investigatory stop. The trial court noted:
There are different levels of contact the police can have, and in this case [one officer] said when they first pulled up and before anything else had happened he was at that time anticipating making what's known as an investigatory stop, which would require an articulable and specific basis in fact for suspecting that criminal activity has taken place ... the court considers the totality of the cireumstances. What happened in this case-and the question is whether or not the character of that initial stop changed at any point in time so that there was more than simply a suspicion....
(Emphasis added). Thus, the trial court de-seribed an evolving investigatory stop, but a stop nonetheless.
After a discussion of the legal standards of probable ecause and reasonable suspicion, and how they are different, the court continued:
[The officer said] ['II placed him in handcuffs. I was pretty sure it's something they weren't supposed to have[']. And he is arrested, I find at that point. He is seized, he is no longer free to go. This has been converted from an investigatory stop because it's gone well beyond simply trying to find out what's going on....
(Emphasis added). The court then ruled that the officers, while having reasonable suspicion to stop, did not have the higher justification of probable ecause to arrest, and suppressed the statements and evidence seized.
The attorneys were unsure about the trial court's ruling and questioned the judge further. The court clarified and appears to have found that the defendant was justifiably stopped before the bag was dropped, but *797lacked probable cause to put him in handcuffs:
Q [by the prosecutor to the court]: As far as time frame goes, is the court finding that there was any restriction on the defendant's movement at the time that he actually threw the bag?
THE COURT: No, I'm not finding-I'm not going along with that line of cases. I find at that point probably they had a reason to do an investigatory stop.
Q [defense attorney]: Even without throwing-
THE COURT: But before the baggy, that's all there was. Once the baggy was thrown down looks like the investigatory stop went right out the window, and he called him over to place him into handcuffs.
(Emphasis added).
From this exchange I conclude that the better interpretation of the trial court's findings is that McClain was seized before the bag was dropped and the officers were justified in seizing McClain, but not justified in arresting him.5 This interpretation is consistent with the trial court's attempt to describe an evolving stop that culminated in an illegal arrest.
To the extent that the majority correctly recognizes that evidence abandoned prior to a seizure is not the fruit of that seizure, the majority correctly holds that the trial court's ruling was wrong. Further, to the extent that the trial court found that the officers had a reasonable suspicion to effect a stop prior to arrest, I conclude that the trial court was wrong on that point as well.
An officer may not lawfully stop a person merely because that person is in a high crime area, without more facts pointing to possible criminality. Outlaw, 17 P.38d at 157 (citing United States v. Davis, 94 F.8d 1465, 1468 (10th Cir.1996)). An officer may not stop a person because of the color of their skin for the same reason. Finally, mere "furtive gestures" are also not sufficient to constitute the basis for an investigatory stop. Id. (citing People v. Thomas, 660 P2d 1272, 1275 (Colo.1983)(finding that a "furtive gesture" is too ambiguous to constitute the basis for an investigatory stop), overruled on other grounds by People v. Archuleta, 980 P.2d 509, 514 (Colo.1999)).
Here, the record unambiguously demonstrates that these officers did not have any facts to justify their stop of McClain other than his being in a high erime area and "these particular people" were "basically ... up to no good." These facts do not provide reasonable grounds to stop McClain. If the trial court found that the men had been properly seized before the bag was dropped, though incorrect, the trial court nonetheless reached the proper conclusion-that the bag should be suppressed as the fruit of an illegal seizure.
IV. Conclusion
In my view neither the record nor the trial court's findings are sufficient to permit adequate appellate review. Accordingly, I would return this case to the trial court for further findings and permit the trial court to entertain additional evidence. See People v. Wood, 135 P.3d 744 (Colo.2006)(ruling on an interlocutory appeal after remanding the case on two previous occasions for findings of fact); Vazquez, 106 P.3d 1089(reaching the merits only after a prior order directing the trial court to make specific findings of fact and to indicate the historical facts upon which it relied in reaching its conclusion); People v. Ingram, 984 P2d 597, 604 (Colo.1999)(holding that in the absence of sufficient findings of fact and conclusions of law by the trial court, this Court must remand with directions to the trial court to create an adequate record upon which to
*798base its holding)(citing People v. Sutherland, 886 P.2d 681, 688 (Colo.1994)). Alternatively, I would at least order the diagram sent to us, that we might view whether seemingly contradictory evidence can be reconciled by an illustration of key facts undiscernable from the written record.
I am authorized to state that Justice BENDER joins in this dissent.

. One officer was specific about this point:
Q: Mr. McClain eventually walked over to you e
A: Actually, we walked over to him.

. Thus, Hodari D. merely stands for the obvious but limited proposition that a person is not seized if they run from an officer's show of authority. Hodari D., 499 U.S. at 626, 111 S.Ct. 1547.

. This is especially clear in light of both officers' testimony and their actions at the scene, ie., the pursuit and subsequent capture of McClain's companion.

. Additionally, an officer drew on the diagram some sort of divider between parking lots with concrete edging and shrubs. It is unclear how this divider affected McClain's direction of travel relative to where the police parked.

. To be fair, this is not the only interpretation of the trial court's order,. Though "investigatory stop" is likely the antecedent referent to the relative pronoun "that's" in the court's phrase "'before the baggy, that's", the trial court's other responses reveal a potentially different view. The prosecutor questioned the seizure at the time the bag is dropped; the court responded "[nlo, I'm not finding.... I'm not going along with those cases...." The meaning of this exchange is thus ambiguous because it is not clear whether or not the court thought an investigatory stop occurred before the bag was dropped or just whether he thought the police had reason to stop before they pulled up. Of course, if there is no stop, there is no legal requirement for a reason to stop. Therefore, I conclude that the trial court likely found a stop had occurred before the bag was dropped.