Com. v. Bradley

• Decision Date: 12 January 1999
• Citation: 724 A.2d 351
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant v. Thomas P. BRADLEY, Appellee.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

724 A.2d 351

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant v. Thomas P. BRADLEY, Appellee.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued May 13, 1998.

Filed January 12, 1999.

A. Sheldon Kovach, Asst. Dist. Atty., Media, for the Com., appellant.

Andrew Donaghy, Media, for appellee.

Before McEWEN, President Judge, and DEL SOLE, KELLY, POPOVICH, FORD ELLIOTT, JOYCE, MUSMANNO, ORIE MELVIN and SCHILLER, JJ.

MUSMANNO, J.:

¶ 1 The Commonwealth appeals from the trial court's Order suppressing evidence in this case in which Appellee Thomas Bradley ("Bradley") was prosecuted for driving under the influence. See 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3731. We affirm.

¶ 2 Bradley was arrested on May 30, 1996 for driving under the influence of alcohol. He filed a pre-trial Motion to Suppress claiming that his arrest was illegal and that, therefore, all evidence against him obtained following that arrest should be suppressed. The trial court granted the Motion to Suppress. The Commonwealth requested that the trial court reconsider its suppression ruling, but the trial court denied that request. The Commonwealth then filed this timely appeal.¹

¶ 3 Joseph Daly ("Daly"), the Superintendent of the police department of Lower Merion Township, testified at Bradley's suppression hearing that, on May 30, 1996, he was off-duty and was in Haverford Township driving to his home. Daly stated that, at 10:05 p.m., he observed in front of him an automobile, driven by Bradley, swerve into the opposite lane of traffic. Daly testified that he was concerned for other motorists on the road; therefore, he called the Haverford Township Police Department on his car radio. Daly said that he followed Bradley and continually updated the Haverford Township Police Department concerning Bradley's location and direction of travel.

¶ 4 Daly testified that he then saw Bradley make two more exaggerated turns, drive on the wrong side of the highway, and nearly strike a telephone pole. Daly said that, when Bradley pulled into a church parking lot and stopped, Daly parked his car in front of Bradley's. According to Daly, he then walked to Bradley's vehicle, opened the door, turned off the engine, and took Bradley's keys. Daly testified that, after Bradley asked Daly what the problem was, Daly told Bradley that he was an off-duty police officer and that Haverford Township police officers were coming to the scene. Daly then told Bradley to sit there and not to cause any trouble. Daly kept Bradley under observation while waiting for the Haverford Township police officers to arrive. When Haverford Township police officers, Cheryl Williams and Charles Moore, arrived, Daly gave Bradley's keys to Officer Williams and told her of his observations.

¶ 5 Officer Williams testified at the suppression hearing that, when she approached Bradley's car, she detected a strong odor of alcohol and noticed that Bradley's eyes were bloodshot and glassy and that Bradley's speech was slow and slurred. Officer Moore testified that he conducted field sobriety tests on Bradley, which tests Bradley failed. Officer Williams then placed Bradley under arrest.

¶ 6 Bradley testified that he had had four alcoholic drinks on the evening of May 30, 1996. He stated that, as he was driving that night, he noticed that a car following him appeared to have on its high beams. Bradley said that he pulled into a church parking lot, thinking that a friend was following him. Bradley stated that, after the car that had been following him stopped in front of him, the driver approached Bradley, told Bradley that he was an off-duty police officer, and grabbed Bradley's keys. Bradley testified that he thought he was under arrest by a Haverford Township undercover police officer.

¶ 7 Daly's written statement, prepared at the request of the Haverford Township Police Department, was consistent with the testimony that Daly gave at the suppression hearing. In that statement, Daly indicated that, "[f]rom my 26 years of police experience, it was ... my opinion that the operation of the vehicle was consistent with that of someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol."

¶ 8 At the conclusion of the suppression hearing, the trial court determined that Daly had arrested Bradley illegally. On that basis, the trial court suppressed all evidence obtained after the arrest. The Commonwealth contends on appeal that, for the following reasons, the trial court erroneously granted Bradley's Motion to Suppress: (1) Daly acted as a private citizen and, therefore, legally arrested Bradley; and (2) Daly acted legally, even if not acting as a private citizen, because the interaction between Daly and Bradley was nothing more than a "mere encounter."

¶ 9 When reviewing an order granting a suppression motion, "we must consider only the evidence of the defendant's witnesses and so much of the evidence of the prosecution as, read in the context of the record as a whole, remains uncontradicted." Commonwealth v. Francis, 700 A.2d 1326, 1328 (Pa.Super.1997). If the evidence of record supports the trial court's findings, then an appellate court is bound by those findings and may reverse only if the legal conclusions drawn from them are erroneous. Id.

¶ 10 When a police officer acts under color of state law outside his jurisdiction, his actions are deemed unlawful pursuant to the Municipal Police Jurisdiction Act.²Commonwealth v. Price, 543 Pa. 403, 672 A.2d 280 (1996); Commonwealth v. Brandt, 456 Pa.Super. 717, 691 A.2d 934 (1997),appeal denied, 549 Pa. 695, 700 A.2d 437 (1997). In such circumstances, the exclusionary rule applies,³ and any evidence obtained as a result of the officer's actions must be suppressed. Brandt, 691 A.2d at 939. The exclusionary rule applies even if the police officer acts in good faith or the police officer's actions would have been lawful if performed within the proper jurisdictional limits. Id.

¶ 11 In its first argument, the Commonwealth does not dispute that Daly acted outside his proper jurisdiction. Nor does the Commonwealth dispute that, if Daly, acting under color of state law, arrested Bradley, then Daly acted without authority under the Municipal Police Jurisdiction Act. Rather the Commonwealth contends that Daly, assuming that he arrested Bradley, acted legally because he acted, not under color of state law, but as a private citizen.

¶ 12 Our Supreme Court has determined that a law enforcement officer acts under color of state law if, "in light of all the circumstances, [the officer] must be regarded as having acted as an `instrument' or agent of the state." Price, 543 Pa. at 410, 672 A.2d at 283 (quoting Corley, 507 Pa. at 548, 491 A.2d at 832). In Price, an FBI agent had stopped the defendant after the defendant had failed to stop his vehicle at a stop sign and had swerved into oncoming traffic. 543 Pa. at 406, 672 A.2d at 281. The agent had used the police lights and siren on his unmarked vehicle to stop the defendant, identified himself to the defendant as an FBI agent, and showed the defendant his badge. Id., 672 A.2d at 281. In addition, after smelling the odor of alcohol emanating from the defendant, the agent told the defendant to remain seated in his vehicle. Id., 672 A.2d at 281. Local police officers then came to the scene and arrested the defendant on a charge of driving under the influence, a misdemeanor offense. Id., 672 A.2d at 281.

¶ 13 The Court in Price first noted that, pursuant to a federal statute, an FBI agent, if acting in a law enforcement capacity, is not authorized to make an arrest for a misdemeanor offense without a warrant. See id. at 407, 672 A.2d at 282 (citing 18 U.S.C. § 3052). Thus, the Court stated that, because the agent had arrested⁴ the defendant for a misdemeanor offense without a warrant, the arrest could have been legal only if the agent acted as a private citizen. See Price, 543 Pa. at 407-08,

672 A.2d at 282. The Court then held that, because the agent had used the lights and siren on his car and showed his FBI badge, the agent had engaged in conduct which "could be fairly attributed to the state." Id. at 411, 672 A.2d at 284. The Court therefore concluded that the arrest was illegal and all evidence obtained thereafter should have been suppressed. Id. at 413, 672 A.2d at 285.

¶ 14 Earlier, in Commonwealth v. Eshelman, 477 Pa. 93, 383 A.2d 838 (1978), our Supreme Court determined that an off-duty auxiliary police officer, outside his proper jurisdiction, acted "as a police officer," not as a private citizen, when he found packages of marijuana in a car belonging to the defendant on the property of the defendant's grandmother. Id. at 101, 383 A.2d at 842. Apparently, the officer had been looking for a friend of his on the property when he stumbled upon the car and found the packages inside. Id. at 96, 383 A.2d at 839. The officer then took one package to his police department and then to state police barracks where it was determined that the package contained marijuana. Id. at 96-97, 383 A.2d at 839-40. ¶ 15 The Court noted that the officer, if acting as a police officer, was "without authority" under the Municipal Police Jurisdiction Act to search the defendant's car. Id. at 101, 383 A.2d at 842. The Court then ruled that the officer "was acting as a police officer when he removed the package and turned it over to the police" both because the officer had testified that the packages looked suspicious to him based on information he had received at his police station concerning the manner in which marijuana typically is packaged, and also because the officer had taken the package to the police station to be opened. Id. at 100-01, 383 A.2d at 841-42. The Court thus determined that the evidence obtained by the officer should have been suppressed. Id. at 102, 383 A.2d at 842-43.

¶ 16 We have reviewed the record in this case and conclude that the evidence presented at Bradley's suppression hearing supports the suppression court's factual findings. Furthermore, based on the...