Court Opinion

ID: 9849620
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:43:18.96903+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:20.947888
License: Public Domain

BUMGARDNER, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from Part II(B) of the opinion. I do not believe that during a lawful encounter a police officer is forbidden to conduct a carefully limited frisk for weapons unless the officer has a reasonable suspicion that the person is both armed and dangerous, and is engaged in criminal activity.
This case involved a consensual encounter following completion of a lawful stop for a traffic offense. The officer asked for permission to search the vehicle. The defendant suddenly and unexpectedly emerged from the vehicle before saying whether he would consent. The officer was entitled to remain until the defendant responded. If he gave consent, the officer was entitled to conduct the search. I do not believe the law requires that the officer carry it out under dangerous conditions. See Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 1049, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201 (1983).
In the precarious moments as the defendant emerged, the officer acquired a reasonable suspicion that the defendant might be armed. He observed a bulge in the defendant’s right hand front pocket. He asked the defendant what it was. On receiving no answer but on seeing the defendant move his hand toward the bulge and attempt to cover it up, the officer for the first time touched the defendant. He felt a large, hard bulge and believed it could be a weapon. The defendant continued to evade the officer’s question about what was in his pocket, so the officer ordered him to remove the object. It was a smoking device with marijuana residue and gave the officer probable cause to arrest the defendant.
Under all the circumstances of this case the actions of the officer were reasonable, and I would hold that they were a permissible interference with the defendant’s personal security as permitted under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), and its progeny. See United States v. *98Baker, 78 F.3d 135, 137 (4th Cir.1996). The officer was properly before the defendant, and he was permitted to continue the voluntary encounter. While doing so, he developed a reasonable suspicion that the defendant might be armed, although he did not have a reasonable suspicion that the defendant was engaged in criminal activity. “The law does not expect a police officer must gamble on turning away from a possible danger and chance taking a bullet in the back....” Lansdown v. Commonwealth, 226 Va. 204, 212, 308 S.E.2d 106, 111 (1983), cert. denied, 465 U.S. 1104, 104 S.Ct. 1604, 80 L.Ed.2d 134 (1984). I would affirm the conviction.