Court Opinion

ID: 9628023
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:05:02.157898+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:56.075677
License: Public Domain

Reed, C.J.
(concurring in the result) — I concur in the result solely because I believe the suppression of evidence is mandated by the majority opinion in State v. Larson, 93 Wn.2d 638, 611 P.2d 771 (1980).
Larson holds that it was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment for the police to make an investigative stop of a car which they observed parked illegally with three occupants at 3 a.m. — in a high crime area, on the side of the street next to a closed public park, opposite an apartment house that had recently been burglarized several times— and which began to drive away as the police car pulled up. The Larson stop is factually indistinguishable from the circumstances in State v. Gluck, 83 Wn.2d 424, 518 P.2d 703 (1974), in which the Supreme Court held that the police had a "well-founded" suspicion justifying a stop for a brief inquiry, arising out of the following facts stated at page 425:
Between 4 and 5 a.m. on July 24, 1971, two city policemen were patrolling an industrial area of Seattle, Washington, in which there had been an increasing number of burglaries. As the officers approached a tavern, which was in an isolated part of a block, a car parked in front of the tavern was driven away from the curb and its lights turned on. After following the car for about IV2 miles, the officers stopped it and requested identification of the two occupants.
Likewise, in this case the officers testified that they had patrolled the site of the stop, often at night, for 20 months and 7 years, respectively; that the area had been hit with several burglaries and two arson fires and was a "high crime" area; that they were familiar with the vehicles usually parked in that vicinity at 1:41 a.m., and the subject car was unfamiliar; that they drove by slowly and were either ignored or not seen by the car's two occupants; and that they decided to check the vehicle because it "appeared sus*401picious" for the foregoing reasons. The similar facts of this case supply an adequate justification for the stop under Gluck, but not under Larson, in which the facts were even more suspicious than here.
The law governing a brief stop — a seizure — of a vehicle in such circumstances has not changed in substance since Gluck. Gluck's test of a "well-founded suspicion not amounting to probable cause," 83 Wn.2d at 426, differs only semantically from the test applied in Larson:
We have recognized that in some circumstances an officer may detain a suspect briefly for questioning although he does not have "probable cause" to believe that the suspect is involved in criminal activity, as is required for a traditional arrest. United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, supra, at 880-881 [45 L. Ed. 2d 607, 95 S. Ct. 2574]. See Terry v. Ohio, supra, at 25-26 [20 L. Ed. 2d 889, 88 S. Ct. 1868]. However, we have required the officers to have a reasonable suspicion, based on objective facts, that the individual is involved in criminal activity. Delaware v. Prouse, supra, at 663 [59 L. Ed. 2d 660, 99 S. Ct. 1391]; United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, supra at 882-883; see also Lanzetta v. New Jersey, 306 U. S. 451 [83 L. Ed. 888, 59 S. Ct. 618] (1939).
Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 51, 61 L. Ed. 2d 357, 99 S. Ct. 2637 (1979).
The Gluck rule has been, and continues to be, followed by the appellate courts of this state — even after Larson. See, e.g., State v. Sieler, 95 Wn.2d 43, 46, 621 P.2d 1272 (1980); State v. Hobart, 94 Wn.2d 437, 443, 617 P.2d 429 (1980); State v. Lesnick, 84 Wn.2d 940, 943, 530 P.2d 243 (1975); State v. Sykes, 27 Wn. App. 111, 115, 615 P.2d 1345 (1980); State v. Serrano, 14 Wn. App. 462, 465, 544 P.2d 101 (1975). Gluck is cited with apparent approval by Professor Wayne LaFave in volume 3 of his treatise Search and Seizure § 9.3, at 72 (1978). Yet, curiously, the majority in Larson did not cite Gluck, let alone attempt to distinguish it. Rather, it was left to Justice Horowitz, in his dissent in Larson, to explain why Gluck should control.
I believe the facts in this case supply a sufficient basis, *402whether it be called a "well-founded suspicion" or a "reasonable suspicion, based on objective facts" for the Aberdeen police to have briefly investigated the car in which defendant was sitting at that wee hour, in that suspicious location, if Gluck were followed. I think Justice Horowitz and the other dissenters were correct in Larson, and that the seizure here and the activity that flowed from it were reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. It is obvious, however, from Justice Horowitz's dissent that the Larson majority was aware of Gluck but chose not to follow it. We must, therefore, reluctantly uphold this suppression decision as the unavoidable mandate of Larson.
Reconsideration denied October 28, 1981.
Review denied by Supreme Court January 8, 1982.