Walker v. State, 53568

• Decision Date: 14 September 1977
• Docket Number: No. 53568,53568
• Citation: 555 S.W.2d 454
• Parties: Douglas Lee WALKER, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 454

555 S.W.2d 454

Douglas Lee WALKER, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 53568.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

Sept. 14, 1977.

Barry P. Helft, Dallas, for appellant.

Henry Wade, Dist. Atty., William M. Lamb, Reed W. Prospere and Dan C. Guthrie, Jr., Asst. Dist. Attys., Dallas, Jim D. Vollers, State's Atty., David S. McAngus, Asst. State's Atty., Austin, for the State.

OPINION

PHILLIPS, Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction for the offense of aggravated robbery upon a plea of not guilty. The jury assessed punishment at eight and one-half years' confinement.

At approximately 10:30 a. m. on June 4, 1975, Willard Butler was managing a 7-11 Store on Houston School Road in Dallas. Thomas Sullivan entered the store, stood by the checkout counter and told Butler that he was waiting for a friend. Several minutes later appellant entered the store and walked down one of the far aisles. Sullivan then told appellant, "Man, you can come on and get what you want." At that point appellant came to the checkout counter bringing an item which Butler rang up. Butler then noticed a pistol in appellant's left hand. At appellant's instructions, Butler began placing money from the cash register into a paper bag. Sullivan came behind the counter with a drawn gun and took Butler's money bag and shotgun. Both Butler and a customer who had entered the store during the robbery were forced to lie on the floor while the two men fled.

In his first ground of error appellant complains his warrantless arrest was invalid and therefore any evidence seized as a result of his arrest was inadmissible. Appellant argues that the arresting officer's decision to stop the vehicle in which he was a passenger was based completely on a police radio broadcast. It is appellant's contention that the State failed to show the officer causing the broadcast to be issued had probable cause to do so as required by Colston v. State, 511 S.W.2d 10, Tex.Cr.App. We do not agree.

On the morning of the robbery Jackie B. Doyal, of the Dallas Police Department, was patrolling the area where the robbery occurred. His attention was caught by a particularly clean metallic blue Corvair which was parked near the 7-11 Store with the driver's door slightly ajar. At the time Doyal thought the car had run out of gas. Five minutes later he heard the armed robbery call and immediately returned to the scene, by which time the Corvair had been moved.

Witnesses who had arrived at the store and remained in their cars while the robbery was taking place told investigating officers that two men had run behind the store in the direction of the street on which the Corvair had been parked. Shortly thereafter they also heard an automobile start in that direction. At this point Officer Doyal gave the investigating officers a description of the Corvair. Officer Charles Sanders of the Dallas Police Department arrived after the other investigating officers and searched the scene for physical evidence. On a foot trail behind the shopping center where the 7-11 was located and approximately 30 feet from the street where Officer Doyal had observed the Corvair, Sanders found the shotgun. A description of the Corvair was then broadcast as a possible getaway car.

Officer J. F. Berry testified that at approximately 10:45 or 11:00 a, m. he heard a broadcast describing the possible getaway car as a clean silver-blue Chevrolet Corvair, approximately a 1965 to 1975 model. The broadcast also included a description of the two men believed to be occupying the car. While Berry was eating lunch that afternoon he saw through the restaurant's window a very clean silver-blue Corvair occupied by two black males on the South Central Expressway. He had been looking for the car since the armed robbery broadcast that morning.

Berry and two other officers pursued the car. Officer Berry turned on his flashing red lights and, when the Corvair attempted to make a U-turn, forced it off the road. A pat-down search of appellant, the passenger in the car, revealed two pistols. Both suspects were then handcuffed and placed in patrol cars. During the search of the Corvair some rolls of coins and paper currency were found in the glove box. Officer Berry stated his sole purpose in stopping the Corvair was because the car and occupants matched the description he had heard on the radio broadcast.

The facts before us in the instant case resemble those of Washington v. State, 518 S.W.2d 240, Tex.Cr.App., in which the police officer who made the broadcast was at the scene of the robbery shortly after it occurred, interviewed witnesses who had seen the getaway car and then testified at trial.

Here Officer Doyal observed a car on routine patrol. After hearing about a robbery in that same area, he returned and the car was gone. Other investigating officers interviewed witnesses at the scene who saw the two men run toward the street where the car had been parked and heard a car starting. Thus the investigating officers were able to get a description of the suspects from eye witnesses and of the possible getaway car from the observant Officer Doyal. As the result of their investigations, a description of the men and car was broadcast.

The observations of Officer Doyal, together with the information supplied by witnesses at the scene, were more than sufficient probable...