Court Opinion

ID: 9638351
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:41:57.177912+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:05.943682
License: Public Domain

DOUGLAS, Judge,
dissenting.
The majority holds that it was unreasonable for an officer to stop a car which left a high crime area after it had been parked without lights on a street in that area. In the opinion of this writer, it was a reasonable detention and constituted good police work.
On the morning of December 5, 1974, at approximately 2:16 a. m., appellant and two companions, Doyle Anderson and Larry Warner, were arrested by Sgt. Ted Alford, a veteran with eight years’ service with the Garland Police Department. Sgt. Alford testified that he observed three individuals sitting in a car on Inwood Boulevard near Merion Drive with its lights out next to the hospital parking lot. Alford was working in plain clothes and an unmarked vehicle due to the number of burglaries of motor vehicles in that part of town. He drove past them for approximately 150-200 yards before turning around to come back and check out the vehicle and its occupants. As he came back toward appellant’s vehicle, the lights were turned on and appellant turned north on Merion Drive and then onto Forest Lane where Alford stopped him.
Alford approached the vehicle from the driver’s side and asked appellant and his two companions for identification. He noticed a strong odor of burning marihuana coming from the car. Appellant and his companions were requested to get out of the vehicle. After appellant was out but before his two companions got out of the car, Officer Connaster, a uniformed patrolman, arrived on the scene. While Alford questioned the three men as to the nature of their activities that evening, Connaster made a search of the vehicle. During the search he “. . . found a small amber vial located between the transmission hump and the right front passenger seat near the front which contained two, what appeared to be marijuana cigarettes that had a green substance inside, ...” He also smelled the odor of burning marihuana as he searched the vehicle.
Appellant testified and denied any knowledge of the vial being in the car. It was stipulated that marihuana was present in the car and that companion Anderson had been convicted of misdemeanor possession of marihuana as a result of this transaction.
In Thompson v. State, 533 S.W.2d 825 (Tex.Cr.App.1976), this Court held:
“A police officer may make an investigatory stop under appropriate circumstances even though the officer has no probable cause for arrest. An officer may have specific and articulable facts which, in the light of his experience and general knowledge, reasonably warrant such a stop. Hernandez v. State, 523 S.W.2d 410 (Tex.Cr.App.1975); Baity v. State, 455 S.W.2d 305 (Tex.Cr.App.1970); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).”
*700The facts and circumstances shown herein are sufficient to justify Alford’s temporary detention for the purpose of investigation. Such an investigation is allowed since it is considered to be a lesser personal intrusion on the security of an individual. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); Ablon v. State, 537 S.W.2d 267 (Tex.Cr.App.1976).
Appellant’s detention by the police was justified. The strong odor of burning marihuana in the car was sufficient to establish probable cause for the search of the car and the arrest of the appellant. See Thompson, supra; Williams v. State, 489 S.W.2d 614 (Tex.Cr.App.1973); and Clark v. State, 483 S.W.2d 465 (Tex.Cr.App.1972).
In Wood v. State, 515 S.W.2d 300 (Tex.Cr.App.1974), it is written:
“The Fourth Amendment has been held not to require a policeman who lacks a precise level of information necessary for probable cause to arrest so simply shrug his shoulders and allow crime to occur or a criminal to escape. Circumstances short of probable cause for arrest may justify temporary detention for investigation and questioning. Thus neither tests of reliability demanded for showing of probable cause nor showing of probable cause is required to justify an investigative stop. A brief stop of a suspicious individual in order to determine his identity or to maintain status quo momentarily while obtaining more information may be reasonable in light of facts known to the officer at the time.”
Under the facts in this record the officers acted properly. There was no unreasonable search.
The judgment should be affirmed.