376 So. 2d 401 | Fla. Dist. Ct. App. | 1979
Driving a Chevrolet vehicle tradenamed “Suburban,” appellant passed an agricultural inspection station without stopping for inspection. The inspector chased and stopped the vehicle, directed appellant to return to the station for inspection, arrested appellant for the misdemeanor of driving a truck past an inspection station, without stopping for inspection, Section 570.15(2), Florida Statutes (1977), and, with appellant’s consent — so found by the trial court on competent evidence — searched the vehicle, finding a quantity of marijuana for the possession of which appellant was here convicted and sentenced on his plea of nolo contendere, reserving suppression issues for appeal.
We need not decide whether, as a matter of law, the vehicle was a truck. Nor must we decide whether there was competent evidence supporting the trial court’s finding that the vehicle was a truck. Appellant was not on trial for a violation of Section 570.15(2). Regardless of whether the vehicle was in fact and law a truck, so that appellant was guilty of driving a truck past the inspection point in violation of Section 570.15(2), there was probable cause for the inspector to believe it was a truck, and that appellant violated Section 570.15(2). The arrest therefore was lawful and it did not vitiate appellant’s consent to the subsequent search. United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 94 S.Ct. 467, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973); see also Michigan v. DeFillippo, - U.S. -, 99 S.Ct. 2627, 61 L.Ed.2d 343 (1979).
AFFIRMED.