U.S. v. Sakyi
| Decision Date | 30 October 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. 97-4813,97-4813 |
| Citation | 160 F.3d 164 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Collins Kusi SAKYI, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit |
ARGUED: Robert Stanley Powell, Arlington, Virginia, for Appellant. Marlene Mary Wahowiak, Special Assistant United States Attorney, Office of United States Attorney, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Helen F. Fahey, United States Attorney, Office of United States Attorney, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee.
Before NIEMEYER and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges, and MAGILL, Senior Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, sitting by designation.
Affirmed by published opinion. Judge NIEMEYER wrote the opinion, in which Judge WILLIAMS and Senior Judge MAGILL joined.
In this case we must decide whether a passenger in an automobile may lawfully be "patted down" in connection with a lawful traffic stop before a search of the vehicle for suspected drugs. We hold that because the officer had an objectively reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and a legitimate concern about his own safety, he acted lawfully under the Fourth Amendment in "patting down" the passenger.
During the evening rush hour on April 2, 1997, United States Park Police Officer Frank Joseph Ferstl observed an automobile enter the George Washington Memorial Parkway from Washington Street south of Alexandria, Virginia, and noticed that one of the vehicle's brake lights was not functioning. After Ferstl stopped the car and requested that the driver, Antonio Gunn, produce a license and registration, Gunn said that he "did not have his license with him." When Gunn opened the glove box to retrieve the registration, Officer Ferstl observed a Phillies Blunt cigar box. In Officer Ferstl's experience, Officer Ferstl claimed that he had been involved in "several hundred" cases in which marijuana and Phillies Blunt cigar boxes were found together.
When Officer Ferstl pressed Gunn further on whether he had a driver's license at all or whether it was suspended, Gunn said he "never had a license." Despite what Gunn said, Officer Ferstl suspected that Gunn's license had been suspended. Officer Ferstl then asked the passenger in the car, Collins Sakyi, for identification, inquiring whether he had a valid driver's license, with the thought that Sakyi could drive the car home. Sakyi claimed that he too did not have his license with him. He orally gave Officer Ferstl identification information, which Ferstl did not discover was false until he returned later to the police station. Officer Ferstl requested a check on Gunn's driver's license through Park Police communications and asked Gunn to step to the rear of the car while waiting for the information. While waiting, Officer Ferstl asked Gunn if he had anything illegal in the car. Gunn said no and granted Officer Ferstl's request to search the vehicle. When the Park Police communications revealed that Gunn's license had been revoked, Officer Ferstl waited for the arrival of Lieutenant David Stover as backup before placing Gunn under arrest for driving on a revoked license. He handcuffed Gunn and placed him in the rear seat of the police cruiser under Lt. Stover's observation.
Before searching the vehicle, Officer Ferstl asked Sakyi to step to the rear of the vehicle and conducted a "pat-down" of Sakyi's outer clothing "to make sure the scene was safe before[Ferstl] went into the vehicle." As Officer Ferstl moved his hands down Sakyi's right leg, a large piece of tin foil fell to the ground containing a large, white, rock substance which Officer Ferstl believed to be crack cocaine. Officer Ferstl then arrested Sakyi for suspected possession of cocaine. A later field test confirmed that the substance was crack cocaine. Officer Ferstl's subsequent search of the vehicle produced a Remington 522 Viper .22 caliber rifle which both Gunn and Sakyi spontaneously claimed was a BB gun.
At a hearing on Sakyi's motion to suppress the evidence of cocaine, Officer Ferstl testified that he had not conducted a "search" of Sakyi but only "patted him down for weapons" because he was going to search the vehicle and he wanted, for his own protection, "to ensure that the area [was] safe." Officer Ferstl acknowledged that before he frisked Sakyi he did not have reason to believe that Sakyi had committed any criminal offense. Furthermore, as Sakyi exited the vehicle, Officer Ferstl did not observe any bulges in Sakyi's clothing, although he testified that he would not readily have been able to see any because Sakyi was wearing loose clothing. Officer Ferstl also testified that nothing Sakyi did caused Ferstl to fear for his safety.
Both Officer Ferstl and Lt. Stover, however, noted that the area on the George Washington Parkway where Officer Ferstl stopped Gunn was a high-crime area. Lt. Stover stated that the area was across the street from a marina and from the Jones Point Park which were "probably the two highest areas where we make arrests for[the possession of weapons and drugs] on that end of the Parkway."
After Sakyi was indicted for possessing five grams or more of cocaine base, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), he filed a motion to suppress the evidence obtained by Officer Ferstl during the stop, arguing that the "pat-down" violated his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. Sakyi argued that Officer Ferstl had no evidence to believe that he was engaged in any criminal activity; he had merely been "sitting in the vehicle in which he was a passenger." The district court denied the motion, concluding that the circumstances provided Officer Ferstl with a reasonable, articulable suspicion that Sakyi had engaged in criminal activity, justifying the "pat-down" under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), and its progeny. The district court based its conclusion on the totality of the circumstances surrounding the "pat-down," including the facts that (1) the traffic stop occurred in an area with a high incidence of crimes involving drugs and guns, (2) in the glove box of the vehicle, Officer Ferstl observed a Phillies Blunt cigar box which, in his experience, is commonly associated with marijuana, (3) Sakyi did not have identification, and (4) Sakyi wore loose clothing which could have concealed a weapon.
Sakyi thereafter pled guilty to the charged offense, reserving his right to challenge the district court's ruling on his suppression motion, see Fed.R.Crim.P. 11(a)(2), and the district court sentenced him to 37 months imprisonment. This appeal followed.
The Fourth Amendment protects "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." U.S. Const. amend. IV. "The touchstone of our analysis under the Fourth Amendment is always 'the reasonableness in all the circumstances of the particular governmental invasion of a citizen's personal security.' " Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 108-09, 98 S.Ct. 330, 54 L.Ed.2d 331 (1977) (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 19, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)). "Reasonableness" is determined by weighing the "public interest" against the "individual's right to personal security free from arbitrary interference by law officers." Id. at 109, 98 S.Ct. 330 (quoting United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U.S. 873, 878, 95 S.Ct. 2574, 45 L.Ed.2d 607 (1975)); see also Maryland v. Wilson, 519 U.S. 408, 117 S.Ct. 882, 885, 137 L.Ed.2d 41 (1997). The public interest, as the parties agree, includes the substantial public concern for the safety of police officers lawfully carrying out the law enforcement effort. Thus, the issue presented requires us to determine whether Officer Ferstl's safety concerns were legitimate and, if they were, whether under the circumstances they outweighed Sakyi's right to be free from the intrusion of a "pat-down."
The foundation for our analysis was established in Terry v. Ohio where the Supreme Court held that police officers confronting citizens on the street in objectively suspicious circumstances may, without probable cause, conduct a limited search--a "frisk" or "pat-down"--for weapons when a reasonably prudent officer in similar circumstances would believe that his safety or the safety of others was in danger. 392 U.S. at 27, 88 S.Ct. 1868. To determine whether an officer could reasonably hold such a belief, the Court stated that "due weight must be given ... to the specific reasonable inferences which [the officer] is entitled to draw from the facts in light of his experience." Id. The Court recognized the strong public interest in officer safety, stating that "it would be unreasonable to require that police officers take unnecessary risks in the performance of their duties." Id. at 23, 88 S.Ct. 1868.
Applying Terry principles to routine traffic stops, the Court in Mimms held that a police officer, "as a matter of course," may order the driver of a lawfully stopped car out of his vehicle. 434 U.S. at 110, 98 S.Ct. 330. The Court observed that because the car was already lawfully stopped, it was not evaluating the intrusion resulting from the stop, but only the "incremental intrusion resulting from the request to get out of the car once the vehicle was lawfully stopped." Id. at 109, 98 S.Ct. 330. The Court weighed the public interest in the safety of police officers, which it characterized as "both legitimate and weighty," id. at 110, 98 S.Ct. 330, against the additional intrusion of requiring the driver to exit the vehicle, which it characterized as "de minimis," resulting in a "petty indignity." Id. at 111, 98 S.Ct. 330. The Court...
To continue reading
Request your trial