State v. Rawlings, 80-581
| Decision Date | 26 November 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-581,80-581 |
| Parties | STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Charles RAWLINGS, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Robert L. Bogen, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Elton H. Schwartz, Public Defender and Stephen L. Kramer, Asst. Public Defender, Fort Pierce, for appellee.
This is an appeal by the State from the trial court's order granting the defendant's motion to suppress. We find that the trial court erred in suppressing the evidence and reverse.
The following evidence was adduced at the hearing on the defendant's motion to suppress. Isaac Isham was watching television on October 21, 1979 when he heard some shots outside of his home. Isham looked out on the street where he saw a person whom he was unable to identify. Isham then called the police and reported what he had heard and seen.
Officer Williams responded to the call and found the defendant and a woman on a street in the vicinity of Isham's house. These were the only two people in the area. Officer Arnold also responded to the call and arrived at the scene sometime shortly after the arrival of Officer Williams. While Officer Williams engaged the defendant in a conversation Officer Arnold approached and noticed the outline of a gun in the back pocket of the defendant's pants. Arnold informed Williams of this fact and Williams conducted a pat down of the defendant. Officer Williams recovered a .25 caliber automatic pistol.
Based on this testimony the trial court suppressed the recovered firearm because the police did not have a founded suspicion to justify a detention of the defendant. While we agree that there was insufficient evidence of an articulable basis of founded suspicion presented at the hearing on the motion to suppress, we find that the police activity in this case did not constitute a detention of the defendant. Thus, such a showing was not necessary to justify the encounter between the defendant and the police. A mere contact between a citizen and a police officer which evokes voluntary cooperation on the part of a citizen is not a "seizure" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Elmore, 595 F.2d 1036 (5th Cir. 1979); United States v. Wylie, 569 F.2d 62 (D.C.Cir., 1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 944, 98 S.Ct. 1527 (1978). See also, United States v. Mendenhall, --- U.S. ----, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980). Where, as in the instant case, the police approach a citizen under somewhat suspicious circumstances for the purpose of routinely investigating a reported crime, no "seizure" has occurred. "There is nothing in the Constitution which prevents a policeman from addressing questions to anyone in the...
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