Reynolds v. State

• Decision Date: 02 January 1992
• Docket Number: No. 75832,75832
• Parties: 17 Fla. L. Weekly S6 Willie REYNOLDS, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.
• Court: Florida Supreme Court

Page 1082

592 So.2d 1082

17 Fla. L. Weekly S6

Willie REYNOLDS, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent.

No. 75832.

Supreme Court of Florida.

Jan. 2, 1992.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 25, 1992.

Nancy Daniels, Public Defender and Michael J. Minerva, Asst. Public Defender, Second Judicial Circuit, Tallahassee, for petitioner.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen. and Virlindia Doss, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, for respondent.

GRIMES, Justice.

We review Reynolds v. State, 558 So.2d 127 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990), on the basis of two questions certified by the First District Court of Appeal to be of great public importance:

WHETHER IT IS PROPER FOR POLICE TO HANDCUFF A PERSON WHOM THEY ARE TEMPORARILY DETAINING.

WHETHER A PERSON'S CONSENT TO SEARCH CAN LEGALLY BE VOLUNTARY IF GIVEN WHILE HANDCUFFED DURING TEMPORARY DETAINMENT.

Id. at 128-29. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, Sec. 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. We address only the issues raised by the certified questions.

On the night of October 13, 1988, members of the Tallahassee Police Department "Crack Squad" were conducting an undercover investigation in an area known for high consumption and sale of drugs, particularly cocaine. The Crack Squad was specifically seeking out persons distributing cocaine to dealers and was avoiding street vendors. During the course of the investigation, a confidential informant equipped with a wireless transmitter radioed to one of the police officers that he was witnessing a female distribute crack cocaine from a car to individuals outside a lounge. The informant told the officer, who was posted approximately two blocks away, that the female reentered the car with crack still on her person and that he saw crack in the car. The car pulled away from the lounge. Officers obtained visual contact with the vehicle within seconds and followed it until it pulled over of its own accord at a gas station/convenience store. Petitioner Reynolds was the driver of the car.

When Reynolds stepped out of the car, one of the officers told him he was under arrest. A second officer handcuffed him. A third officer advised Reynolds that this was a narcotics investigation and conducted a pat-down that did not reveal any weapons. The officer did not remove the handcuffs after the pat-down but asked Reynolds for consent to search him, informing him that he had the right to refuse. Reynolds twice consented to be searched. The officer found two bags of what he suspected to be cannabis. Reynolds then indicated that he did not want to be searched. The officer placed Reynolds under arrest. A subsequent search revealed cocaine in Reynolds' jacket pocket.

Reynolds moved to suppress the drugs seized, claiming the search violated the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article I, section 12 of the Florida Constitution. At the hearing, two police officers testified and the report of a third was admitted into evidence. Reynolds did not testify. The trial court denied the motion. Reynolds pled no contest to possession of crack cocaine, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress.

The district court of appeal found (1) that the stop of the automobile was a valid temporary detainment that was not vitiated by the handcuffing and (2) that Reynolds' consent to the search was not compromised by the handcuffing.

We address first the question of whether police may properly handcuff a person whom they are temporarily detaining. Despite the fact that the police announced that Reynolds was under arrest when he stepped out of the car, the State does not argue that there was probable cause to arrest Reynolds. Rather, the State contends that the officers conducted a permissible investigatory stop. In Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), the United States Supreme Court recognized the right of police officers, absent probable cause, to stop and question persons whom they reasonably suspect have committed or are about to commit a crime and to frisk such persons reasonably suspected to be armed and dangerous. Reynolds concedes that there was reasonable suspicion to stop the car and question him. He argues, however, that the police exceeded the limits of a permissible Terry stop because they handcuffed him without probable cause to arrest or a reasonable belief that weapons were present.

The United States Supreme Court has refused to apply a bright-line test for determining what police action is permissible in an investigatory stop. United States v. Sharpe, 470 U.S. 675, 685, 105 S.Ct. 1568, 1574, 84 L.Ed.2d 605 (1985). Rather, each case turns on its particular facts. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. at 29, 88 S.Ct. at 1884. The appropriate question in each case is whether the action was reasonable under the circumstances. This requires a twofold inquiry--whether the action was justified at its inception and whether it was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place. Id. at 19-20, 88 S.Ct. at 1878-79.

Courts have generally upheld the use of handcuffs in the context of a Terry stop where it was reasonably necessary to protect the officers' safety or to thwart a suspect's attempt to flee. See, e.g., United States v. Crittendon, 883 F.2d 326 (4th Cir.1989) (use of handcuffs during investigative stop reasonably necessary to maintain status quo and protect officer's safety); United States v. Glenna, 878 F.2d 967 (7th Cir.1989) (use of handcuffs during investigative stop not improper where police found ammunition and explosives on suspect); United States v. Taylor, 716 F.2d 701, 709 (9th Cir.1983) (use of handcuffs not improper where suspect made furtive movements with hands after refusing an order to put his hands in the air); United States v. Bautista, 684 F.2d 1286 (9th Cir.1982) (use of handcuffs during Terry stop upheld where an armed robbery suspect was still at large and handcuffs eliminated possibility of assault or escape attempt), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1211, 103 S.Ct. 1206, 75 L.Ed.2d 446 (1983); Howard v. State, 664 P.2d 603 (Alaska Ct.App.1983) (drawn guns and handcuffing do not necessarily turn investigative stop into arrest); People v. Allen, 73 N.Y.2d 378, 540 N.Y.S.2d 971, 538 N.E.2d 323 (1989) (police justified in handcuffing armed robbery suspect to ensure their safety while moving him out of alley to conduct pat down); State v. Wheeler, 108 Wash.2d 230, 737 P.2d 1005 (1987) (handcuffing suspected burglar for two-block ride to scene of burglary upheld). See also United States v. Kapperman, 764 F.2d 786, 790, n. 4 (11th Cir.1985) (neither handcuffing nor other restraints automatically convert Terry stop into an arrest requiring probable cause; inquiry is reasonableness). Likewise, we do not find Terry and its progeny to prohibit placing a suspect in handcuffs during the course of an investigative detention where the circumstances reasonably warrant such action. If an officer reasonably believes that an investigative stop can be carried out only in such a manner, it is not a court's place to substitute its judgment for that of the officer. United States v. Sharpe, 470 U.S. at 686-87, 105 S.Ct. at 1575-76; United States v. Glenna, 878 F.2d at 972-73. Accordingly, we answer the first certified question with a qualified affirmative, in that we find that police may properly handcuff a person whom they are temporarily detaining when circumstances reasonably justify the use of such restraint.

We do not suggest that police may routinely handcuff suspects in order to conduct an investigative stop. Whether such action is appropriate depends on whether it is a reasonable response to the demands of the situation. When such restraint is used in the course of an investigative detention, it must be temporary and last no longer than necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop. The methods employed must be the least intrusive means reasonably available to verify or dispel in a short period of time the officers' suspicions that the suspect may be armed and dangerous. United States v. Glenna, 878 F.2d at 972. Absent other threatening circumstances, once the pat-down reveals the absence of weapons the handcuffs should be removed.

In the case before us, Reynolds claims that the court below improperly relied on generalized assertions about drug dealers to justify the handcuffing. He argues that there were no specific, articulable facts that supported a reasonable belief that he was armed and dangerous. The State responds that a reasonable belief that a suspect may be armed may be predicated on the nature of the criminal activity involved. The State argues that an officer conducting an investigative stop has only his generalized knowledge, training, and experience to apply to the situation confronting him at the moment. Applying those factors to the circumstances here, the State asserts, the police had a reasonable belief that the handcuffing was necessary for their own protection.

We find that the initial handcuffing of Reynolds was within the bounds of a permissible Terry stop and search for weapons. The information provided to the officers by the informant reasonably led them to suspect that a crime involving distribution of crack cocaine had occurred. The officers had used this informant before and he had proved reliable. The suspected crime was more than a simple street purchase of drugs. Officers reasonably believed that the woman in the car was resupplying street vendors with crack cocaine, and Reynolds was driving the car. The suspected felony occurred at night in a neighborhood known for a high incidence of cocaine trafficking and use. One of the officers testified that in cocaine cases "we experience on a regular basis very intense violent resistance many times immediately upon contact in a restraining or apprehension situation." Another officer testified that she had been hurt in such a situation. Based on their knowledge and personal experience with this type of...