Court Opinion

ID: 9482670
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 08:56:59.19666+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:49:07.698234
License: Public Domain

*1014LUMBARD, Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I concur in affirming the district court’s denial of Glover’s motion to suppress the drugs seized from two bags he carried off a bus upon arrival in Buffalo, New York.
On May 16, 1990, Investigator Paul Ter-ranova observed Glover arrive on an overnight bus from New York, a means of travel for drug carriers that has recently come to our attention. See United States v. Torres, 949 F.2d 606 (2d Cir.1991); United States v. Springer, 946 F.2d 1012 (2d Cir.1991). Glover seemed nervous and was apprehensive about being observed. Terra-nova approached Glover, identified himself as an officer, and asked if Glover would answer some questions. Glover responded to questioning and produced a xerox of a social security card and a handwritten employment card.
This encounter was consensual and Ter-ranova’s conduct was entirely proper. “[A] simple request to speak with [a suspect] in the non-coercive atmosphere of a public place” does not constitute a seizure under the fourth amendment. United States v. Montilla, 928 F.2d 583, 590 (2d Cir.1991). Unless an officer “ ‘by means of physical force or show of authority, has in some way restrained the liberty of a citizen’ ... an encounter between a police officer and a citizen is consensual, and implicates no Fourth Amendment interest.” Springer, 946 F.2d at 1016 (quoting Florida v. Bostick, — U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 2382, 2386, 115 L.Ed.2d 389 (1991)). See also United States v. Lee, 916 F.2d 814, 819 (2d Cir.1990) (“a police officer is free to approach a person in public and ask a few questions”).
Upon request, Glover then accompanied Terranova to the NFTA Office for a computer check of his identification, and agreed to further questioning. There is no reason to believe that a person in Glover’s position would have felt compelled to accompany Terranova into the Office or submit to further questioning. Consequently, Glover was not seized at this time.1
The Supreme Court has found that a seizure occurs “only if, in view of all of the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave.” United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 554, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 1877, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980). The Court applied this test in Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 501, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 1326, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983), finding that “when the officers identified themselves as narcotics agents, told Royer that he was suspected of transporting narcotics, and asked him to accompany them to the police room, while retaining his ticket and driver’s license and without indicating in any way that he was free to depart, Royer was effectively seized for the purposes of the Fourth Amendment.” Under those circumstances, the Court found that the police activity “surely amount[ed] to a show of official authority such that ‘a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave.'" Royer, 460 U.S. at 502, 103 S.Ct. at 1326 (quoting Mendenhall, 446 U.S. at 554, 100 S.Ct. at 1877).
In reaching its decision, the Court did not rely upon a particular list of factors to determine whether or not a seizure occurred. Rather, they viewed all the circumstances surrounding the incident to determine whether or not a reasonable person would have felt compelled to comply with the police request. The Court subsequently reaffirmed this “contextual approach,” emphasizing that the test “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 ... what constitutes a restraint on liberty prompting a person to conclude that he is not free to ‘leave’ will vary, not only with the particular police conduct at issue, but also with the setting in which the conduct occurs.” Michigan v. Chesternut, 486 U.S. 567, 573, 108 S.Ct. 1975, 1979, 100 L.Ed.2d 565 (1988). See also Bostick, 111 S.Ct. at 2389.
Although in this case, as in Royer, the police identified themselves as narcotics *1015agents, told Royer he was under suspicion, retained his identification and asked the suspect to accompany them to another room, these facts do not comprise the totality of the situation as they did in Royer. Throughout the encounter with Terranova, Glover did refuse some of the officer’s requests. He did not allow Terranova to search his bags, replying that the officer lacked probable cause. . He also declined to allow Terranova to telephone either his employer or his aunt to verify his story. In each instance, Terranova accepted Glover’s response and did not pursue the matter. These actions on the part of both Glover and Terranova undermine any claim that Glover was intimidated by Terranova or felt compelled to comply with his requests. Consequently, I cannot find that under the circumstances of this case the police “convey[ed] a message that compliance with their requests [was] required.” Bostick, 111 S.Ct. at 2386.2
Indeed, most of the factors indicative of whether a seizure has occurred are absent: the threatening presence of several police officers; the display of a weapon; physical touching of the person by the officer; and language or tone indicating that compliance was compulsory. Springer, 946 F.2d at 1016. The only factor suggesting coercion was the retention of Glover’s identification papers by Terranova.
I believe that the detention of Glover’s papers does not establish coercion, particularly when the identification in question consisted of a xeroxed social security card and a handwritten employment card. See Montilla, 928 F.2d at 583. There were no indications that Glover was not free to leave. Under these circumstances defendant’s decision to accompany Terranova to the NFTA Office was made voluntarily, and no seizure occurred.
However, a seizure did occur when Ter-ranova announced he would detain defendant’s bags pending the arrival of a narcotics detection dog. By that time, Terrano-va’s suspicions had been sufficiently confirmed to justify such a limited seizure. See Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). Terranova knew that Glover had lied about his criminal record, that he had a history of narcotics arrests, and had used aliases in the past. Such information, combined with Terranova’s earlier observations, surely gave rise to the necessary “reasonable suspicion supported by articulable facts that criminal activity ‘may be afoot.’ ” United States v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 7, 109 S.Ct. 1581, 1585, 104 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989) (quoting Terry, 392 U.S. at 30, 88 S.Ct. at 1884).
Once the narcotics detection dog signaled the presence of drugs in Glover’s bags, it was appropriate to search them. In any event, it is undisputed that Glover consented to the search. The search and seizure, like the preceding events, did not violate the defendant’s fourth amendment rights.

. Although I do not believe that a seizure occurred when Terranova asked Glover to return to the NFTA Security Office, I agree with Judge Altimari that there existed reasonable suspicion to justify a seizure, had one occurred.

. Indeed, in other cases involving different circumstances, each of the factors relied on in Royer have been found not to cause a seizure. See, e.g., Torres, 949 F.2d at 608 (finding no seizure when officers requested that Torres accompany them into police room); Montilla, 928 F.2d at 588-89 (finding no seizure, despite the fact that the officers identified themselves as narcotics agents, retained Montilla’s identification, and never told him he was free to leave); Lee, 916 F.2d at 819 (officer’s statement that Lee was under suspicion for transporting drugs did not constitute a seizure, because ”[v]iewing the statement in context, it is clear that the officer ... was merely verbalizing something that was already quite obvious from the circumstances.”).