Court Opinion

ID: 9689646
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:42:01.895044+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:51.087221
License: Public Domain

Williams, J.
(dissenting). The question for decision is whether a police officer may conduct a limited search of a van for the officer’s own safety, when he witnesses furtive movements by the driver which lead the officer to believe that a gun is being concealed therein, when the van is observed illegally parked in front of a known "after-*630hours” drinking establishment, and contains a passenger who matches the description of an escapee who had been arrested for robbing such establishments, as well as the driver. If the officer may do so, then pursuant to the teachings of Terry v Ohio, 392 US 1; 88 S Ct 1868; 20 L Ed 2d 889 (1968), and its progeny, the fruits of the search may be admissible in evidence. The trial court was correct in refusing to suppress the pistol, and defendant’s conviction should be affirmed.
I
The full facts are adequately stated in the majority opinion.
II
In Terry v Ohio, supra, the United States Supreme Court recognized that "a police officer may in appropriate circumstances and in an appropriate manner approach a person for purposes of investigating possibly criminal behavior even though there is no probable cause to make an arrest”. Id., 22. Terry held further that a police officer, based upon experience and observations, may conduct a limited search for weapons if he or she has reason to believe that "criminal activity may be afoot and that the persons with whom he is dealing may be armed and presently dangerous * * Id., 30. Without the necessity of probable cause to arrest or search, the officer may act upon "specific reasonable inferences which he is entitled to draw from the facts in light of his experience”. Id., 27. In the instant case, as characterized by the Court of Appeals, defendant conceded that "the fact of proximity to the after hours establishment may have given the officer reason to make an *631investigative stop”. People v Rosales, 87 Mich App 185, 188, fn 1; 274 NW2d 13 (1978).
The initial extrapolation from Terry occurred in Adams v Williams, 407 US 143; 92 S Ct 1921; 32 L Ed 2d 612 (1972), which upheld the seizure of a pistol from a person in a parked car. The police officer in that case was patrolling a high-crime area in the early morning hours. Acting pursuant to an informant’s tip that the defendant-occupant of an automobile possessed narcotics and a weapon concealed in his waistband, the officer approached the vehicle and asked the defendant to step out. When the suspect lowered the window rather than heeding the officer’s command, the officer reached into the automobile and removed a fully loaded gun from the defendant’s waistband. The gun had not been visible from outside the vehicle. In upholding the admissibility of the seized weapon, the Adams Court ruled that, despite the absence of probable cause, a police officer should not simply "shrug his shoulders and allow a crime to occur or a criminal to escape”. Id., 145. Noting that the officer had reason to fear for his safety in light of both the area in which the defendant was discovered, as well as the time at which the incident took place, the Adams Court held that the officer’s actions were "a limited intrusion designed to insure his safety” and that the weapon seized was properly admitted at trial. Id., 147-148.
Ill
Adams is persuasive authority for the proposition that the instant limited search surmounts a Fourth Amendment "unreasonable search and seizure” challenge. Const 1963, art 1, § 11. The police officer who confronted defendant-appellant acted from personal observation coupled with knowledge *632obtained through his familiarity with the iieigh-borhood of his patrol: he noted that the defendant’s van was illegally parked in front of an after-hours drinking establishment, and he had received a description of an escapee, who had been arrested for robbing such establishments, which matched the physical features of the van’s passenger. In addition, the officer observed the defendant quickly reach into a carpeted area immediately between the seats, before being challenged. Upon the defendant’s exit from the van, the officer was able to see a bulge in this carpeted area. When the driver stepped out of the van, the suspected escapee remained inside, presumably with ready access to the object which the driver had placed under the carpeting. The officer testified at the weapon suppression hearing that he believed the object beneath the carpeting to be a gun. Wary as a result of these furtive motions, and sighting the tell-tale bulge, the officer’s belief that the defendant was concealing a weapon was certainly reasonable.
IV
In short, the focus of the Court has consistently been the police officer’s interest in assuring that his or her safety is not compromised where there is present in the searched area a suspect who may be armed with a weapon. Consequently, the officer’s actions in this instance — approaching the van, requesting the driver to exit, and limiting his search to the area into which defendant had furtively reached as the officer approached and where a bulge appeared — were reasonable under the circumstances and constitutionally unobjectionable.
The trial court was correct in refusing to slip-*633press the pistol in this case, and defendant’s conviction should be affirmed.
Coleman, C.J., and Fitzgerald, J., concurred with Williams, J.