Court Opinion

ID: 9524513
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:53:30.622249+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:10:45.724861
License: Public Domain

Hood, P.J.
(concurring). I concur with the result reached by the majority, but write separately to express respectful difference as to the conclusions reached on two issues.
First, I do not feel that Deputy Gleason had probable cause to stop the Bronco simply because it had a black driver. I agree that it is necessary to examine the totality of the circumstances to determine what cause is sufficient to authorize police to make a stop. United States v Cortez, 449 US 411, 418; 101 S Ct 690; 66 L Ed 2d 621 (1981); People v Martin, 99 Mich App 570; 297 NW2d 718 (1980), lv den 413 Mich 926 (1982). The totality of circum*767stances in this case, however, demonstrate that the only "particularized suspicion” leading Gleason to stop the Bronco was the sole fact that the driver was black.
The robbery was committed at approximately 11:20 a.m. by two masked black men who escaped in a white or ivory-colored Trans Am or Camaro. Less than fifteen minutes later, Deputy Gleason noticed a black and red Ford Bronco, with one black male, approximately fifty years old, driving and decided to stop it because a black male was driving. Gleason testified that he had decided to stop any black person who drove by him, regardless of the number of persons in the car. Gleason knew nothing about cars being switched or the Bronco being stolen. There is no discernible basis for Gleason’s supporting statement that it is rare to see blacks on an interstate freeway in the middle of the day. Being black and driving on a public highway within a short time after a bank robbery does not, in my opinion, justify the arbitrary stop made in this case. The fortuitous fact that the perpetrators turned out to be in the vehicle does not in and of itself justify the result.
Despite the initial illegal stop, however, there was no need for the trial court to suppress the evidence. When the driver of the Bronco came out of the vehicle firing a weapon at the deputy, the fact of the illegal stop became irrelevant, and deputy Gleason certainly had probable cause to pursue the Bronco and apprehend its occupants.
I am also not prepared, based on the record, to make a conclusion that none of the prosecutor’s peremptory challenges were racially motivated. The trial court did not clearly err, however, since the prosecution did put forth racially neutral explanations for challenging the black jurors.
Except as indicated herein, I agree with all the conclusions of the majority opinion.