Court Opinion

ID: 9749095
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 16:24:01.241225+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:43.940135
License: Public Domain

PRYOR, Associate Judge,
dissenting:
This case involves the police response to a citizen-caller in circumstances allegedly involving a weapon and illicit narcotics activity. Unlike the majority, I view the information available to the police as sufficient to warrant an investigatory stop, Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), but not rising to the level of probable cause so as to justify an arrest and subsequent full-fledged search as here.
An anonymous call reporting criminal activity, coupled with police observation of the suspect on the street, without more, generally does not satisfy the requirements of trustworthiness announced in Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964), and Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969). The police may, of *1067course, reach probable cause by additional observation or independent investigation. This, however, is not such a case. See Rushing v. United States, D.C.App., 381 A.2d 252 (1978).
Rather, we are here concerned with circumstances where investigation was appropriate and where there was an articulable factor of danger to the officers. In that event, the reason underlying a police intrusion is clear.
The sole justification of the search ... is the protection of the police officer and others nearby, and it must therefore be confined in scope to an intrusion reasonably designed to discover guns, knives, clubs, or other hidden instruments for the assault of the police officer. [Terry v. Ohio, supra, 392 U.S. at 29, 88 S.Ct. at 1884.]
In Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1973), the officer, as here, was informed that a suspect at a given location possessed a gun and narcotics. The Court, utilizing the Terry rationale, approved the seizure of the weapon from the suspect’s belt, where it was reported to be.
Similarly, in Lawson v. United States, D.C.App., 360 A.2d 38 (1976), an unidentified caller informed police that a described suspect at a particular location was carrying a gun in his pants pocket. Upon arrival, a frisk disclosed a weapon in the right-front trouser pocket of the suspect. We held the stop and frisk a reasonable intrusion under the circumstances.
In comparable situations, we have consistently approved a reasonable intrusion to neutralize possible danger. United States v. Walker, D.C.App., 294 A.2d 376 (1972); cf. Galloway v. United States, D.C.App., 326 A.2d 803 (1974); United States v. Frye, D.C.App., 271 A.2d 788 (1970). Thus, without “matching the facts” of each case, I believe there is a substantial body of decision which has shown this kind of confrontation to be within the range of a Terry stop.
However, it is the nature of the intrusion on this instance which causes me to dissent.
The officers were two blocks away from the location and responded to the scene within twenty seconds where they identified the woman standing in a crowd. They observed her walk into a nightclub, followed by two officers. She emerged fifteen seconds later at which time the officers alighted from their vehicle and confronted her in the middle of 14th Street. They each took hold of an arm and one then removed the blue bag from her shoulder. He passed the bag to his partner who looked inside to discover a Savage .32 caliber automatic pistol. [Majority op. at 1060.]
It is difficult to characterize this seizure as limited to the scope of a protective purpose. In Adams v. Williams, supra, the suspect was disarmed when the gun was taken from his belt. In this instance, the source of likely danger was removed when appellant’s handbag was taken from her. That was a reasonable precaution under Terry. However, approval of a full search of the purse, without additional information, allows the lesser showing required for a frisk to serve as a substitute for probable cause.
Even if we were to assume arguendo that probable cause existed, I doubt, given the facts and circumstances of this case, that the intrusion into appellant’s purse was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment in light of Arkansas v. Sanders, 442 U.S. 753, 99 S.Ct. 2586, 61 L.Ed.2d 235 (1979); United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. 1, 97 S.Ct. 2476, 53 L.Ed.2d 538 (1977), and their progeny. The Supreme Court has repeatedly acknowledged the primary purpose of the Fourth Amendment to be the protection of legitimate expectations of personal privacy. Arkansas v. Sanders, supra, 442 U.S. at 757-58, 99 S.Ct. at 2589-2590; United States v. Chadwick, supra, 433 U.S. at 7, 11, 97 S.Ct. at 2481, 2483; Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 350-51, 88 S.Ct. 507, 510-511, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967); Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 630, 6 S.Ct. 524, 532, 29 L.Ed. 746 (1886). Hence, the Court has often reiterated “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable *1068searches and seizures, ...” U.S. Const. Amend. IV, by interpreting that Amendment to provide that searches of personal property generally be performed pursuant to a validly issued warrant. See, e. g., Arkansas v. Sanders, supra, 442 U.S. at 758, 99 S.Ct. at 2589; Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 390, 98 S.Ct. 2408, 2412, 57 L.Ed.2d 290 (1978); United States v. Chadwick, supra, 433 U.S. at 9, 97 S.Ct. at 2482; United States v. United States District Court, 407 U.S. 297, 317, 92 S.Ct. 2125, 2136, 32 L.Ed.2d 752 (1972); Katz v. United States, supra, 389 U.S. at 357, 88 S.Ct. at 514; Agnelio v. United States, 269 U.S. 20, 33, 46 S.Ct. 4, 6, 70 L.Ed. 145 (1925).
The prominent place the warrant requirement is given in our decisions reflects the ‘basic constitutional doctrine that individual freedoms will best be preserved through a separation of powers and division of functions among the different branches and levels of Government.’ United States v. United States District Court, supra, [407 U.S.] at 317, [92 S.Ct. at 2136]. By requiring that conclusions concerning probable cause and the scope of a search ‘be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime,’ Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 14, [68 S.Ct. 367, 369, 92 L.Ed. 436] (1948), we minimize the risk of unreasonable assertions of executive authority. [Arkansas v. Sanders, supra, 442 U.S. at 759, 99 S.Ct. at 2590 (citation and footnote omitted).]
There is no doubt that the Court has recognized the need for certain exceptions to the warrant requirement; the one relied upon by the majority involves a search incident to a valid arrest. However, the policy considerations underlying these exceptions must also be considered in weighing their applicability in any given case. Allowing a warrantless search of one’s person incident to a custodial arrest, as well as the area immediately within his control, serves to protect the police and others from the dangers with which they may be confronted in effecting an arrest, in addition to prevent-
ing the loss or destruction of evidence. United States v. Chadwick, supra, 433 U.S. at 14-15, 97 S.Ct. at 2485-2486; United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 224, 94 S.Ct. 467, 471, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973); United States v. United States District Court, supra, 407 U.S. at 318, 92 S.Ct. at 2137; Cupp v. Murphy, 412 U.S. 291, 295, 93 S.Ct. 2000, 2003, 36 L.Ed.2d 900 (1973); Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 762-63, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 2039-2040, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969); Agnello v. United States, supra 269 U.S. at 30, 46 S.Ct. at 5. Thus, a balancing of the competing interests of danger to law enforcement officers or destruction of evidence against the need to protect one’s legitimate expectation of privacy must always be undertaken. In the absence of any danger to the arresting officer or destruction of evidence, the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement remains paramount. See United States v. Chadwick, supra:
Once law enforcement officers have reduced luggage or other personal property not immediately associated with the person of the arrestee to their exclusive control, and there is no longer any danger that the arrestee might gain access to the pro¡>erty to seize a weapon or destroy evidence, a search of that property is no longer an incident of the arrest. [Id. 433 U.S. at 15, 97 S.Ct. at 2485 (emphasis added; footnote omitted).]
In this instance, even if we assume the existence of probable cause, there is considerable authority, Arkansas v. Sanders, supra (unlocked suitcase); United States v. Chadwick, supra (footlockers); United States v. Ross, D.C. Cir., 655 F.2d 1159 (1981) (en banc) (paper bag and small leather pouch), that intrusion into the handbag under these circumstances was an unreasonable seizure.
Accordingly, I dissent.