Danielewicz v. State, 98-01128.
| Decision Date | 24 March 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. 98-01128.,98-01128. |
| Citation | 730 So.2d 363 |
| Parties | Claudia DANIELEWICZ, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Scot E. Samis of Law Office of Ehrlich & Samis, St. Petersburg, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Tonja R. Vickers, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
Claudia Danielewicz challenges the trial court's denial of her motion to suppress evidence of intoxication obtained during a traffic stop.1 We reverse because the detention of Danielewicz by police was not based on a well-founded suspicion of criminal activity.
At 1:30 a.m. on July 4, 1997, Officer Robert Wierzba (Wierzba) of the Clearwater Police Department pulled into the parking lot of the Clearwater Mall near the Bombay Bicycle Club, a restaurant/bar located on Gulf to Bay Boulevard. Wierzba testified that this was not a high crime area, and the bar was open for business. There were other cars parked in the lot. Wierzba saw Danielewicz's car parked in a legal parking space near the rear of the business. The headlights were on and the engine was running. No traffic infraction was observed by the officer, and he had no reason to believe there was any problem with the vehicle. As Wierzba approached the vehicle, he saw that water was condensing on the windows from the air conditioner. He looked inside the car and saw Danielewicz in the driver's seat. She appeared to him to be asleep. Wierzba knocked on the window to get her attention. Danielewicz looked at the officer, but did not open her door, which was locked. Wierzba asked Danielewicz to get out of the car. She did not do so until Wierzba had asked her five times. After she unlocked the door and got out of the car, Wierzba gathered evidence which led to her arrest for driving under the influence (DUI). Danielewicz was charged with felony DUI based on prior offenses similar to Florida's DUI.
Defense counsel filed a motion to suppress evidence of DUI alleging that the officer's contact with Danielewicz was an illegal stop. The trial court found that the contact instigated by Wierzba was an investigative stop and that it was lawful. We agree that when Wierzba ordered Danielewicz to get out of the car an investigative stop occurred. The trial court erred, however, in finding that the stop was lawful.
As a general rule, an encounter between a police officer and a citizen becomes an investigative stop when the citizen is asked to exit a vehicle. See Popple v. State, 626 So.2d 185 (Fla.1993); Zelinski v. State, 695 So.2d 834 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997). In order to justify an investigative stop, the officer must have a well-founded suspicion that the...
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