Appelgate v. Commissioner of Public Safety

• Decision Date: 20 March 1987
• Docket Number: No. C3-86-1625,C3-86-1625
• Citation: 402 N.W.2d 106
• Parties: Paul Eugene APPELGATE, Respondent, v. COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Petitioner, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 106

402 N.W.2d 106

Paul Eugene APPELGATE, Respondent, v. COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Petitioner, Appellant.

No. C3-86-1625.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

March 20, 1987.

Syllabus by the Court

Totality of circumstances gave police officer "reasonable, articulable suspicion" of possible involvement of defendant in burglary-in-progress reported minutes earlier and therefore justified limited investigative stop of defendant for purpose of "freezing" the situation.

Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Kenneth H. Bayliss, III, St. Paul, for appellant.

William G. Moore, PACO Office Center, Fridley, for respondent.

Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument.

AMDAHL, Chief Justice.

We granted the state's petition for review in order to decide whether the Court of Appeals erred in reversing the revocation of the license of Paul Eugene Appelgate for failing an implied consent test. The main issue relates to the circumstances under which police may make a limited investigative stop of a person in the area of a recently committed crime. The trial court, rejecting the recommendation of a referee, ruled that the stop was valid. The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court, ruling that the stop was invalid. Appelgate v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 399 N.W.2d 162 (Minn.Ct.App., 1987). In so doing, it ruled in part that the trial court had improperly made a finding not made by the referee who heard the evidence. Thus, the appeal also indirectly raises the issue of when a trial court is bound to decide a Fourth Amendment issue solely on the basis of the facts as found by a referee. Concluding that the trial court did not act improperly and that the state met its burden of establishing the validity of the stop, we reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and reinstate the decision of the trial court.

The only witness testifying on the facts offered in justification of the stop was Hopkins Police Officer James Liddy. He testified to the following facts: (1) that at 2:25 a.m. on Friday, April 18, 1986, he received a report of a burglary in progress in an apartment in a large apartment complex in Hopkins; (2) that he immediately drove his car, a marked squad car, to the residential area right next to the part of the complex in which the burgled apartment was located, arriving there within a minute of the radio report; (3) that from where he stopped he could see the only means of exit by motor vehicle; (4) that at that time of day there is "very little, if any" traffic in the area; (5) that therefore "it was felt" that any vehicle seen leaving the area at that time could possibly be involved in the burglary; (6) that he saw a car coming from the area; (7) that the car made a "very prolonged stop" at a stop sign right near where Officer Liddy was stopped (he was "certain" that the driver "probably could see" the marked squad car); (8) that he began following the car and immediately called for assistance from one of the two other squads responding to the burglary in progress; (9) that as he followed the car, the car made "another prolonged stop" at a different intersection; and (10) that at that point he put on his lights and stopped the car. Liddy approached the car on foot as the driver, Appelgate, got out. He told Appelgate why he was stopped, then peered into the car and saw no evidence suggesting that Appelgate had been involved in any burglary. However, he noted that Appelgate, who said he resided in the complex, appeared intoxicated. He therefore requested Appelgate to submit to a preliminary breath test, which Appelgate failed. Appelgate was then arrested for DWI and his car was impounded. The reading on the implied consent test was .10.

A limited investigative stop is lawful if the officer is able to articulate at the judicial hearing on the validity of the stop that he had a "particularized and objective basis for suspecting the particular person stopped of criminal activity." United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417-18, 101 S.Ct. 690, 695, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981). The officer makes his assessment on the basis of "all the circumstances" and "draws inferences and makes deductions-inferences and deductions that might well elude an untrained person." Id. at 418, 101 S.Ct. at 695. These circumstances include the officer's general knowledge and experience, the officer's personal observations, information the officer has received from other sources, the nature of the offense suspected, the time, the location, and anything else that is relevant.

We deal here with the specific issue of the stop of a motor vehicle near a recent crime. As Professor LaFave points out in his discussion of the issue, in a situation such as that presented to the police in this case "experience has shown that when a victim or witness cannot name the offender his apprehension is unlikely unless he is rather promptly found in the immediate area." 3 W. LaFave, Search and Seizure Sec. 9.3(d) at 460 (2 ed. 1987). In such a situation "the police must have some authority to freeze the situation." Id. at 461. Indeed, "[e]ven if the circumstances are such that no one person can be singled out as the...