Court Opinion

ID: 9677127
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:44:07.985803+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:54.090806
License: Public Domain

WINTERSHEIMER, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from that part of the majority opinion which affirms the decision of the Court of Appeals in regard to the suppression of evidence obtained from a search of the Ramada Inn hotel room. The trial judge correctly overruled the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence obtained in the search.
I specifically and strongly reject any implication from the majority opinion that this search was a pretext. The determination of whether a search is reasonable under the circumstances is predominantly factual and should stay in the hands of the trial judge. A reviewing court should not substitute its findings for those of the trial judge. The trial judge is in the best position to ascertain the facts. Cf CR 52.01.
When a reasonably prudent police officer believes that his safety or that of others is in danger, he may make reasonable search for weapons of a person believed by him to be armed and dangerous regardless of whether he has probable cause to arrest that individual. This is true even though the officer is not absolutely certain that the individual is armed, although he must secure a warrant when practical before making search or arrest. Phillips v. Commonwealth, Ky., 473 S.W.2d 135 (1971). When such a search of a person that an officer believes is armed is confined to what is minimally necessary to determine whether the party is armed for the purposes of protecting the officer, the search is reasonable. Phillips, supra; Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). The real dangers with which police officers are confronted in their work on a daily basis cannot be ignored. Here the officers knew that a gun had been found in Johnson’s motel room only three days earlier at the Pennypincher in Erlanger. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not require a police officer who lacks the precise level of information necessary for probable cause to simply allow a crime to occur or a criminal to escape. Terry, supra, recognizes that an intermediate response may be appropriate and that a brief stop of a suspicious individual in order to maintain the status quo momentarily while obtaining more information may be reasonable in the light of the facts known to the officers at the time. Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972).
Johnson was not a less dangerous suspect by the mere fact that he was not under arrest when the officers asked him for the keys to his car. Other state courts have found it reasonable to permit police *882officers to protect themselves while they are still investigating a possible crime. See Commonwealth v. Daniels, 280 Pa.Super. 278, 421 A.2d 721 (1980); State v. Mayfield, 10 Kan.App.2d 175, 694 P.2d 915 (1985). The reasoning of the Pennsylvania and Kansas courts was sensible and correct and properly persuasive when applied to the actions of the police in this case.
The United States Courts of Appeals have recently indicated that a protective search can be appropriate in certain circumstances. See United States v. Johnson, 637 F.2d 532 (8th Cir.1980); United States v. McClinnhan, 660 F.2d 500 (D.C.Cir.1982).
The United States Supreme Court has recognized that suspects may injure police and others by virtue of their access to weapons even though they may not be armed. Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201 (1983). The U.S. Supreme Court determined that an interpretation of Terry, supra, need not restrict the preventative search to the person of the detained subject. If a suspect is dangerous, he is no less dangerous simply because he is not arrested.
The United States Supreme Court has applied a common sense approach to this dangerous and delicate area of constitutional interpretation. A proper interpretation of Section 10 of the Kentucky Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the Federal Constitution both provide reasonable protection for police in exercising a protective search. The police entry into Johnson’s Ramada Inn room was perfectly reasonable to assure that he did not emerge with gun in hand.
I would reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and reinstate the judgment of the circuit court.
STEPHENS, C.J., and GANT, J., join in this dissent.