State v. Belanger, 6280-1-II
| Decision Date | 05 March 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 6280-1-II,6280-1-II |
| Citation | 36 Wn.App. 818,677 P.2d 781 |
| Parties | The STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Joseph Daniel Hector BELANGER, Appellant. |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
Stephen E. Brown, Elma, for appellant.
Gerald R. Fuller, Deputy Pros. Atty., Montesano, for respondent.
Joseph Belanger appeals his second degree burglary conviction alleging error in the trial court's refusal to suppress evidence. We affirm.
The unchallenged findings of fact which we accept as verities, State v. Christian, 95 Wash.2d 655, 628 P.2d 806 (1981), support the court's ruling. At approximately 6:15 a.m. on a Sunday morning Officer Hranac was patrolling a section of Aberdeen wherein were located a number of pawnshops and where there had been a rash of recent burglaries. The officer observed defendant, who appeared to be a transient, in the company of one Huddleston, also known to the officer as a transient. Defendant was carrying a duffle bag and Huddleston bore a sleeping bag on his shoulder. When he saw the police car approaching, Huddleston hurriedly handed over the bag to the defendant and walked away.
Officer Hranac pulled up and, as he stepped from the car, called out to Huddleston to return. Huddleston kept going. Defendant remained where he was, and the officer could see a rifle barrel protruding from defendant's duffle bag and pointing in his direction. Defendant deposited his sleeping bag on the sidewalk exposing several rifles therein. The officer asked defendant about the rifles. Receiving unsatisfactory answers from the defendant concerning himself and his possession of the guns, Officer Hranac requested permission to examine them. Defendant acceded and, as he handed over the rifles, the officer noticed what appeared to be a pawnshop tag attached to one gun. When confronted with this tag defendant asserted he was a pawnshop owner in Alaska.
Officer Hranac's suspicions having thus been further aroused, he radioed another officer who investigated and reported that Bargain Sales, a nearby pawnshop, had been burglarized shortly before. Defendant was then placed under arrest.
Defendant would have us classify the initial encounter with the officer as a "seizure," and would have us hold that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated because the officer had no reasonable and articulable suspicion that defendant was engaged in any specific criminal activity. We decline to do so. In the first place, not every public street encounter between a citizen and the police rises to the stature of a seizure. Law enforcement officers do not "seize" a person by merely approaching that individual on the street or in another public place, or by engaging him in conversation. Cf. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 34, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1886, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); State v. Montgomery, 31 Wash.App. 745, 751, 644 P.2d 747 (1982). Nor does the fact the officer is in uniform and armed, without more, convert the encounter to a seizure requiring some level of objective justification. Cf. United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980). Of course, the person approached need not answer any question put to him and may go on his way. Terry v. Ohio, supra. At this point he may not be detained (seized) even momentarily without reasonable objective grounds for doing so. His refusal to listen or answer does not standing alone furnish those grounds, however. United States v. Mendenhall, supra. On the other hand, the officer need not have probable cause to arrest in order to temporarily detain (seize) for limited questioning and investigation, utilizing the least intrusive means reasonably available...
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State v. Carriero
...P.3d 596 (2005). Nor does a seizure automatically occur because an officer is in uniform or carrying a firearm. State v. Belanger , 36 Wash. App. 818, 820, 677 P.2d 781 (1984). ¶ 38 On the other hand, a seizure occurs if the officer orders the person to sit or wait while he checks the perso......
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...64 Wash.App. 693, 696, 825 P.2d 754 (1992); State v. Aranguren, 42 Wash.App. 452, 456, 711 P.2d 1096 (1985); State v. Belanger, 36 Wash.App. 818, 820, 677 P.2d 781 (1984). Nor does a seizure automatically occur because an officer is in uniform or carrying a firearm. Belanger, 36 Wash.App. a......
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...home "to see if there had been a burglary, if we had enough to place the subjects under arrest at that time". In State v. Belanger, 36 Wash.App. 818, 677 P.2d 781 (1984), a suspect was questioned when observed in a high crime area under suspicious circumstances with a rifle barrel protrudin......
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...of illegal activity, he could have made contact with Ortega and attempted to establish probable cause. See, e.g., State v. Belanger, 36 Wash.App. 818, 821, 677 P.2d 781 (1984) (finding that the officer at first lacked a well-founded suspicion of criminal activity to justify detaining the de......
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