Court Opinion

ID: 9704061
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:20:39.282727+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:55.664341
License: Public Domain

T. M. Burns, P. J.
(dissenting). I am in accord with the "California Rule” that there must be more than an "evasive action” or "furtive gesture” in order to make reasonable a search by the police. Merely throwing a jacket over a clear plastic bag and bottle is, in my opinion, insufficient to justify a search of defendants’ vehicle.
In Michigan we must determine whether, under all of the circumstances, the search was reasonable. To be held reasonable, it is my opinion that the police must observe something more than a "furtive gesture”.
*341In the instant case the officer saw one of the defendants drop a jacket over a clear plastic bag and a clear plastic bottle. I cannot see how that action alone could justify a search of defendants’ vehicle.
Had defendants been acting suspiciously or had they been stopped for something other than a traffic violation, then the action of covering the articles with a jacket, when coupled with the surrounding circumstances, might justify the officer’s search. Here, however, there is nothing to make the officer suspicious except the action of dropping a jacket over the containers. The subsequent search was, therefore, unreasonable.
I vote to affirm the decision of the trial court.