Siplin v. State, 2D00-3887.
| Decision Date | 05 September 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 2D00-3887.,2D00-3887. |
| Parties | Johnny SIPLIN, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Brad Permar, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Helene S. Parnes, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee. GREEN, Judge.
Johnny Siplin appeals his convictions for possession of heroin and cocaine and argues that the evidence should have been suppressed. We reverse because Siplin was unlawfully stopped by the investigating officer before he consented to a display of the contraband in his possession.
A hearing was conducted on Mr. Siplin's motion to suppress. At the suppression hearing, Officer Barry Books of the St. Petersburg Police Department testified that he saw a compact car at an intersection with two white males inside. He saw a man, later identified as Mr. Siplin, run up to the compact car extremely fast, carrying a blue napkin or cloth in his right hand. According to Officer Books, when Mr. Siplin was two or three feet from the car he saw the officer, looked shocked and surprised, and ran into the compact car. Mr. Siplin leaned into the compact car and began conversing with the driver as if giving directions. Mr. Siplin then walked away from the car.
After deciding to approach Mr. Siplin, Officer Books activated the cruiser's air horn to get his attention. He insisted he did nothing else to stop Mr. Siplin and that Mr. Siplin was free to leave. Officer Books asked Mr. Siplin if he knew the people in the compact car and was told he had borrowed a cigarette from the driver. Officer Books pointed to the blue napkin and asked what it was. Mr. Siplin gave it to him, and Officer Books looked inside and saw what appeared to be cocaine and heroin.
The sole issue on appeal is whether Mr. Siplin was free to leave once the officer sounded the air horn on his cruiser. We determine that under the circumstances of this encounter a reasonable person would believe that he/she was being commanded to stop upon hearing the police cruiser's air horn. At the time the air horn was employed by Officer Books, he did not have reasonable suspicion to conduct a stop of Mr. Siplin.
The trial judge held that the employment of the air horn did not constitute a stop. Case law is consistent that once an officer operates his emergency lights, the encounter is not consensual, but is an...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
G.M. v. State
...DCA 2004); Errickson v. State, 855 So.2d 700 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003); Young v. State, 803 So.2d 880 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002); Siplin v. State, 795 So.2d 1010 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001); Hrezo v. State, 780 So.2d 194 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001); Brooks v. State, 745 So.2d 1113 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999). In certifying direc......
-
G.M. v. State
...DCA 2004); Errickson v. State, 855 So.2d 700 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003); Young v. State, 803 So.2d 880 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002); Siplin v. State, 795 So.2d 1010 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001); Hrezo v. State, 780 So.2d 194 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001); and Brooks v. State, 745 So.2d 1113 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999), as cases in Bel......
-
Blake v. State
...turned toward the light, observed the officer, and then turned away and resumed walking was not investigatory stop); Siplin v. State, 795 So.2d 1010 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (use of spotlight has been found not to transform a consensual encounter into an investigatory stop); State v. Boone, 613 S......
-
Houston v. State
...use of his or her emergency lights evidences an investigatory stop rather than a consensual encounter. See, e.g., Siplin v. State, 795 So.2d 1010 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001); Hrezo v. State, 780 So.2d 194 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001); Brooks v. State, 745 So.2d 1113 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999). The reason such encoun......