Court Opinion

ID: 9477829
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:32:25.712108+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:46:04.435863
License: Public Domain

LUMBARD, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
The police officers acted reasonably throughout, from their initial questioning of the occupants of the automobile to the seizure of counterfeit money found under the floor mat.
When the officers saw the car double-parked on 173rd Street in Washington Heights, they asked the occupants what they were doing there. The answer of the driver, Jose Diaz, that they were just “hanging out” justified officer Erbetta’s request that Diaz produce his license, registration and insurance card. During this exchange with Diaz, Erbetta saw Paulino, the sole occupant of the backseat, bend over as if he were putting something on the floor.
The Washington Heights area is known as a high crime area. Under the circumstances, questioning the occupants of the car necessarily involved some danger to the police and passersby. Thus, it was reasonable for the police to determine whether the occupants had any concealed weapons.
It was a dark, drizzly, and foggy night and in order to find out what might be concealed in the car, Erbetta ordered all three occupants out of the car and searched the front and backseat areas. When Erbet-ta lifted the rubber mat where Paulino had been sitting, he found a doubled-over packet of twenty-one $50 bills. Under the circumstances, the finding of the packet raised the reasonable suspicion that the bills might be counterfeit. Had the bills been legitimate money, Paulino would hardly have had any purpose in hiding them when the officers approached the car. From a cursory examination, Erbetta could see that the bills were counterfeit.
Consequently, I conclude that Erbetta only performed his clear duty as an officer *99of the law when he examined the bills in order to confirm or allay his suspicions. The seizure was lawful and should stand. Each step taken by the police led inevitably to the next step. Having every reason to believe that Paulino had hidden something he wanted the police to not know about there was good reason for Erbetta to find out what it was. Having examined the package it was Erbetta’s duty to seize the counterfeit money.
Police action at night on a busy public thoroughfare in a high crime area requires the measures which the police took. There are no considerations of public policy which make it advisable for the courts to suppress evidence seized under such circumstances in order to discourage such seizures. Compare Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961). I believe that by any standard the action was reasonable.
For these reasons, I concur in reversing the order of the district court which suppressed the evidence.