In rе JOSEPH F., a Person Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JOSEPH F., Defendant and Appellant.
No. A086336
First Dist., Div. Five
Dec. 22, 2000
85 Cal.App.4th 975
[Opinion certified for partial publication.1]
William M. Balin, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, David P. Druliner, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Ronald A. Bass, Assistant Attorney General, Ronald E. Niver and Margo J. Yu, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
OPINION
KRAMER, J.*—Joseph F. appeals from orders declaring him a ward of the juvenile court and placing him on probation after the court sustained a petition (
BACKGROUND
On February 25, 1998, Fairfield Police Officer Robert Salas was at the Golden West Middle School in Fairfield for a meeting with the school‘s assistant principal, John Fink. Salas was the police resource officer assigned to the local school district, and as such it was his responsibility to provide a safe and secure environment for the district‘s schools. Salas testified that at approximately 3:00 p.m. from inside a building he noticed appellant and Raymond G. outside near some classrooms in the “quad area” of the school campus. He reported this sighting to Fink, who went outside to investigate. Salas recognized appellant as a student at a nearby high school. Through the window, Salas saw Fink encounter appellant and Raymond. Appellant appeared to ignore Fink and continued walking. Fink then motioned to Salas to come outside.
Salas went outside. Fink told him he “wanted something done” because appellant had failed to comply with Fink‘s instructions. Salas testified that Fink wanted appellant detained until he (Fink) could investigate whether appellant, as a nonstudent on campus, was trespassing. Salas never heard Fink instruct aрpellant to leave the school grounds. Fink did not testify, and there was no evidence of the conversation between him and appellant or exactly why Fink requested Salas‘s presence.
*Judge of the San Francisco Superior Court, assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution.
Salas was in uniform and displaying his badge. He identified himself as a police officer and asked appellant to stop. Appellant continued walking, and Salas gave him a verbal command to stop. Appellant responded, “Fuck you, I don‘t have to listen to you. You‘re a son of a bitch.”
Salas then attempted to apply an armlock to appellant to make him comply with the instruction to stop, but appellant pulled away. They struggled for several minutes. During the struggle appellant grabbed unsuccessfully for Salas‘s baton and also grasped Salas‘s left wrist, hyperextending it by moving it up and down and side to side. Salas broke loose, and appellant continued walking away. Salas was then able to put appellant in “wrist control” by locking appellant‘s right hand behind his back and applying the right handcuff. A further struggle ensued before Salas was able to apply the left handcuff.
Classes at the middle school end at 1:40 p.m., but other activities occur until shortly after 3:00 p.m. Signs are posted throughout the school stating that visitors are to register at the school office, and high school students are briefed as to rules governing their presence on the middle school campus, which rules are not disclosed by the record. Sаlas did not know when he detained appellant that appellant had not registered in the middle school‘s front office. After the arrest Salas learned that a campus monitor had earlier encountered appellant at the soccer field area and told him to leave the campus.
Defense
Appellant testified that when high school let out for the day, he accompanied Raymond onto the middle school campus so Raymond could pick up a house key from his (Raymond‘s) brother, who was at soccer practice. Appellant was on his way home at the time. A female campus monitor told them to leave because they had no pass. As they were doing so, Fink, whom appellant did not know, approached them and asked who they were. Appellant refused to identify himself to Fink and told Fink he should talk to Raymond, because Raymond was “the one that had business on the campus.” Appellant did not stoр walking when Fink approached him because Fink had not identified himself and appellant “just thought he was some guy.”
When his arm was first grabbed, appellant did not know and could not see who had done so. He thought it might have been Raymond, so he tried “yanking” away. He stopped when he realized it was Salas. He denied grabbing for Salas‘s baton or grasping his wrist. When Salas pulled out his baton, appellant put his hand up and said “I give up, just arrest me.”
Appellant was placed on indeterminate probation. Somewhat ambiguously, he objected to its gang-related terms and conditions, which required that he not (1) be present at any known gathering area of any street gang; (2) associate with any known members or assoсiates of any gang; (3) wear any gang-associated clothing or emblems; (4) possess any gang-related paraphernalia; (5) acquire any permanent or temporary tattoos; and (6) be present at any court proceeding to which he is not a party or witness.
DISCUSSION
I
The Legality of the Detention and Arrest
A. Standard of Review
Appellant contends there is insufficient evidence to support findings that he battered a police officer and resisted arrest because Officer Salas was not engaged in the lawful performance of his duty when he detained appellant.
Upon a claim of insufficient evidence to support a conviction, reviewing courts “must view the evidence in a light most favorable to respondent and presume in support of the judgment the existence of every fact the trier could reasonably deduce from the evidence. [Citation.]” (People v. Mosher (1969) 1 Cal.3d 379, 395, disapproved on another point in People v. Ray (1975) 14 Cal.3d 20, 30, 32.) “The test on appeal becomes whether substantial evidence supports the conclusion of the triеr of fact, not whether the evidence proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. [Citation.]” (People v. Mosher, supra, 1 Cal.3d at p. 395; see also In re Roderick P. (1972) 7 Cal.3d 801, 809.)
Before a person can be convicted of either of these offenses there must be proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the officer was acting lawfully at the time the offense against him was committed. (In re Manuel G. (1997) 16 Cal.4th 805, 815; see also People v. Gonzalez (1990) 51 Cal.3d 1179, 1214-1215 [prosecution must prove еvery element of the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt].) “‘The rule flows from the premise that because an officer has no duty to take illegal action, he or she is not engaged in “duties” for purposes of an offense defined in such terms, if the officer‘s conduct is unlawful. . . .’ [Citation.]” (In re Manuel G., supra, at p. 815.)
Appellant argues that Salas was not acting lawfully because the detention was not reasonable. Appellant contends that well-established rules governing police conduct in public places apply here: that an investigative stop or detention is justified if the circumstances known or apparent to the officer include specific and articulable facts which make the officer suspect (1) some activity related to crime has taken place, is occurring or is about to occur, and (2) the person to be stopped is involved in that activity. The requisite facts must be such as would cause any reasonable officer in a like position, drawing on his or her training and experience, to suspect the same criminal activity and the same involvement by the person in question. (In re Tony C. (1978) 21 Cal.3d 888, 893.)
According to his testimony, Salas attempted to detain appellant to determine whether he was trespassing on school grounds and, if so, what Fink wanted done about it. Salas articulated that he was fulfilling his responsibility to provide a safe and secure environment for his district‘s schools. The question presented is thus whether Salas‘s actions were reasonable.
Consistent with this constitutional mandate,
California‘s constitutional mandate and statutory scheme clearly demonstrate that schools are special places in terms of public access. Given the constitutional direction that students have a right to be safe and the legislative findings that outsiders commit a disproportionate number of the crimes on school grounds, access to schools is limited. Those who visit during school hours must register and declare their identity and purpose. Those who are asked to leave, whether or not required to register, must do so or else be guilty of a misdemeanor. Those who repeatedly return to cause disruption are also guilty of a misdemeanor.
Further, and important to this case, the legislative scheme designates school officials as those who monitor access to campuses. This direction requires that school officials have enough information relative to visitors so that the officials can make the judgments necessary to fulfill their responsibilities. Thus, for example,
The reasonableness of Salas‘s action must be viewed in this context of restricted access to California‘s school grounds.5 Given the above constitutional and statutory scheme, Salas had the right to detain appellant to investigate who he was and why he was on school grounds.
In addition, Salas testified he recognized appellant and knew that appellant was an outsider to Golden West Middle School. He also knew that Fink‘s encounter with appellant was not satisfactory to Fink as Fink asked Salas to detain appellant, which request was consistent with Salas‘s observation that appellant appeared to ignore Fink. While it is true that Salas did not know what had been said between Fink and appellant, such actual knowledge was not necessary as Salas knew that Fink was not satisfied with the result. The choices for Salas at this point were either to interrogate Fink, a school official known to Salas, for further information and risk appellant‘s escaping or to accept Fink‘s conclusion that appellant must be detained. Given this information and choice, Salas was reasonably justified in detaining appellant to see if he was trespassing.
Appellant refused to accede to Salas‘s request to stop, despite Salas‘s being a uniformed police officer. Instead, appellant was hostile and belligerent. It was reasonable for Salas to view this lack of cooperation on a school campus by an outsider as being an indicator of a lack of legitimate presence, thus justifying an increase in the effort to effect a detention. Thereafter, as appellant resisted Salas‘s efforts to detain him, the level of force to effect the detention escalated. Given our recognition that Salas had the right to determine who appellant was and why he was on the school grounds, these escalating efforts at detention were reasonable given appellant‘s resistance.
Appellant argues that the detaining officer must be able to articulate a specific statute that appellant reasonably appeared to have been violating before detaining him on school grounds. Appellant points to the cross-examination of Salas where it appears that he may have believed that
We do not read the testimony of Salas to be so limited. Instead, the record establishes that Salas sought to detain appellant because appellant had refused to cooperate with Fink, that Fink asked Salas to detain appellant, and that such detention was reasonably necessary to determine whether appellant was properly on school grounds.
In so concluding, we hold that unlike the rules applicable to public places in general, school officials, including police who assist in maintaining general order on school campuses, need not articulate a specific crime which appears to be violated in order to detain an outsider for the limited purpose of determining the fundamental factors justifying an outsider‘s presence on a school campus, such as who he is, why he is on campus, and whether he has registered.
It is, of course, well established that “it is the right of every person to enjoy the use of public streets, buildings, parks, and other conveniences without unwarranted interference or harassment by agents of the law. [Citations.]” (In re Tony C., supra, 21 Cal.3d at p. 893, italics added.) When this significant right is balanced against society‘s general need to prevent crime, the cases have consistently required that in order to justify an investigative stop, the police officer must have specific and articulable facts causing him to suspect that activity relating to crime has taken place or is occurring or is about to occur and that the person to be detained is involved in that activity. (Terry v. Ohio (1968) 392 U.S. 1, 21; In re Tony C., supra, at p. 893.)
This is not to say, however, that persons hаve unfettered free access to all public places. Indeed, where the nature of a public place or other circumstance so justifies, citizens regularly are subjected to intrusions not appropriate in other places. Thus, for example, visitors to an airport may constitutionally be required to pass through a metal detector. (People v. Hyde (1974) 12 Cal.3d 158.) This intrusion is justified because airplanes have historically been the subject of criminal activity such as hijacking, and thus reasonable limitations on free access through airports to airplanes are necessary to protect passengers and flight crews and to preserve safe air commerce. (Id. p. at 166.) The intrusion of a search by metal detector does not require any articulable facts relative to the individual who is subject to it. (Id. p. at 167.)
People v. Hyde and Ingersoll v. Palmer are founded on a well-established line of federal and California authorities that recognize “administrative searches” as an exception to the general rules regarding searches and seizures in public places. Administrative searches are in furtherance of an administrative purpose (such as air travel safety) rather than simply a criminal investigation seeking to secure evidence of a crime. Administrative sеarches may unveil evidence of specific criminal behavior, but they also deter criminal behavior by making it harder for would-be criminals to position themselves so as to commit crimes. (People v. Hyde, supra, 12 Cal.3d at pp. 165-166, and cases cited therein.)
California‘s constitutional mandate and legislative scheme relative to school safety render the schools akin to those places and situations in which the courts have recognized that “administrative searches” are permissible.6 Our Legislature has determined that it is appropriate to require visitors during school hours to register and disclose their name, address, occupation, and purpose of visit. Such registration would not be justified on a public street, but is quite reasonable given the constitutional “inalienable right [of students] to attend campuses which are safe, secure and peaceful” (
The fact that the statutory registration requirements are limited to “school hours” (
In concluding that the constitutional mandate for safe education and the wide scope of the legislative protections afforded on school grounds cannot “trump” the Fourth Amendment (conc. & dis. opn., post, at p. 995), the concurring and dissenting opinion fails to distinguish between permissible intrusions during “school hours” and those at other times. The registration requirements of
Indeed, as this case clearly demonstrates, it is illogical to tie the constitutionality of minimal intrusions on visitors to artificial time parameters. Here, had the appellant been observed approximately 20 minutes earlier, i.e., within an hour of the end of classes and thus within “school hours,” then he would have had to register and, presumably under the dissent‘s view, he could have properly been detained to determine if he had done so. Given that there is no legislative finding, factual matter in the record, or other basis to
Accordingly, we conclude that school officials, or their designees, responsible for the security and safety of campuses should reasonably be permitted to detain an outsider for the limited purpose of determining such person‘s identity and purpose regardless of “school hours.”
The issue presented is whether Salas was acting lawfully in the performance of his duties when he attempted to detain appellant. Because we find that Salas could properly detain appellant to determine whether he was permissibly present on campus, there was sufficient evidence to conclude that Salas was acting lawfully in the performance of his duties, an element of the offenses of battery on and resisting a police officer. Thus, there was sufficient evidence to support the juvenile court‘s finding that appellant violated
C. Simple Battery
Appellant contends there is insufficient еvidence of a battery because he was justified in resisting Salas‘s excessive use of force. He argues that Salas exerted excessive force by attempting to grab him, when he refused Salas‘s commands to stop, and by applying a wristlock. Therefore, he argues, his ensuing struggle was only such force as was reasonable to defend himself.
Even if a detention were unlawful, a person may not use force or violence to resist it unless the police officer effectuated the unlawful detention by excessive, i.e., unreasonable, force. (People v. Curtis (1969) 70 Cal.2d 347, 357, disapproved on another point in People v. Gonzalez, supra, 51 Cal.3d at p. 1222; People v. White (1980) 101 Cal.App.3d 161, 166.) The reasonableness of a particular use of force is judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, not by the 20/20 vision of hindsight. The inquiry is an objective one: Was the officer‘s action objectively reasonable in light of the facts and circumstances confronting him, without regard to his underlying intent or motivation? (Martinez v. County of Los Angeles (1996) 47 Cal.App.4th 334, 343.) It is a pure question of fact whether а police officer used reasonable force in detaining a defendant, so reviewing courts determine if there is sufficient evidence in the record for a reasonable trier of fact to conclude that the force used in effectuating a detention was reasonable. (People v. Delahoussaye (1989) 213 Cal.App.3d 1, 8.)
The circumstances of the detention provide sufficient evidence to support the juvenile court‘s implied finding that Salas did not use excessive force. Thus, there was sufficient evidence presented to the trial court to sustain a finding that appellant committed a simple battery (
II*
The Probation Condition
DISPOSITION
The orders appealed from are affirmed.
Stevens, J., concurred.
JONES, P. J., Concurring and Dissenting.—I would reverse the finding that appellant committed a battery on a police officer (
*See footnote 1, ante, page 975.
¹Unless otherwise indicated, all further section references are to the Penal Code.
Reasonable Suspicion of Criminal Activity
a. Specific Penal and Education Code Violations
The majority finds the detention of appellant lawful by characterizing it as “analogous to an ‘administrative search‘” (maj. opn., ante, at p. 987, fn. 6) and therefore a permissible intrusion to foster the goal of deterring criminal conduct on school property. Additionally, the majority concludes appellant‘s detention was justified under traditional Fourth Amendment analysis. (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 987, fn. 6.) I cannot subscribe to either conclusion.
The stated purpose of the statutes requiring outsiders to register during school hours (see maj. opn., ante, at pp. 982-983) is to safeguard school personnel and property against criminal activity by outsiders (
On this record there is no evidence to draw a reasonable inference that appellant was violating
Additionally, Salas and appellant both testified that appellant was in the parking lot at the school‘s perimeter walking in a direction to leave the school grounds when Salas confronted him, which was within two minutes of appellant‘s encounter with Fink. Thus, even though by statute appellant
Nor was there evidence that appellant‘s conduct violated
Under
Nothing on this record implies appellant was on the middle school campus to interfere with the peaceful conduct of campus activities. When first seen by Salas and John Fink, appellant and his friend Raymond G. were in an exterior area of the campus, and when Salas reached them several minutes later, they were in the parking lot walking away from the campus. There was no evidence that either appellant or Raymond was creating a disturbance or was known to have created previous disturbances on the campus, e.g., by
Furthermore, there was no evidence appellant lacked lawful business on the middle school campus, i.e., that his mere presence thereon violаted a law.
b. Reasonable Mistake of Law
Appellant‘s detention cannot be justified by the fact that Salas mistakenly believed a nonstudent was required to register even when “school hours” were concluded. “Courts on strong policy grounds have generally refused to excuse a police officer‘s mistake of law. [Citation.]” (People v. Teresinski (1982) 30 Cal.3d 822, 831.) Teresinski stated that finding the officer‘s mistake of law reasonable under the circumstances “would provide a strong incentive to police officers to remain ignorant of the language of the laws that they enforce. . . .” (Id. at p. 832.)
Detentions based on a mistake of law have been upheld, but only when the detaining officer‘s misunderstanding of the law was objectively reasonable. (People v. Glick (1988) 203 Cal.App.3d 796, 802 [mistaken interpretation of New Jersey vehicle registration laws reasonable]; People v. Lopez (1987) 197 Cal.App.3d 93, 101 [mistaken interpretation of California open container laws unreasonable]; In re Arthur J. (1987) 193 Cal.App.3d 781, 787 [mistaken understanding of local curfew ordinance unreasonable].)
In Glick, a six-year veteran officer detained a car on the grounds its New Jersey license plates did not display registration tags because he believed
²New Jersey v. T. L. O. (1985) 469 U.S. 325 (maj. opn., ante, at p. 985, fn. 5) is factually inapposite. T. L. O. concerned the search of the purse of a student discovered smoking in the school lavatory in violation of a school rule.
Salas‘s position is akin to Glick‘s hypothetical Tahoe highway patrol officer. As the liaison officer between the police department and the district, he would be expected to have particular familiarity with the statutes governing activities on school premises. Under the circumstances, his mistake of law was not reasonable.
c. Nonspecific Criminal Activity
Illinois v. Wardlow (2000) 528 U.S. 119 does not support the People‘s argument that appellant‘s flight, confrontational behavior, and lack of cooperation provided reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. In Wardlow, a four-police-car caravan converged in an area known for heavy narcotics trafficking. An officer in the fourth car observed the defendant standing next to a building holding an opaque bag. The defendant looked in the officer‘s direction, then ran through a gangway and alley. The officer, in his car, eventually cornered the defendant on the street, exited his car, detained the defendant, and found a handgun and ammunition during a patdown. (Id. at pp. 122-123.) Wardlow concluded that, although “flight is not necessarily indicative of ongoing criminal activity,” the officer was justified in suspecting defendant‘s involvement in criminal activity based on the entire context of his “unprovoked” “headlong” flight. (Id. at pp. 125, 126.)
The instant facts are significantly distinguishable. Appellant was not in a high crime area, there was no evidence he was holding an object that could have contained contraband, and he did not immediately bolt down an alley
Without evidence that Salas had an objective basis to detain appellant, there was insufficient evidence he was acting lawfully in the performance of his duties. Therefore, there was insufficient evidence to support the juvenile court‘s finding that appellant violated
II.
Regulatory Scheme Based on Public Safety
The majority‘s reliance on the cited provisions in our state Constitution, Education Code and Penal Code do not, in my view, trump Fourth Amendment protections by creating a broad “special needs” administrative search and seizure exception at public schools to justify an otherwise unlawful unconsented-to investigative stop of this one visitor. Administrative “special needs” stops or searches have been upheld against a Fourth Amendment challenge without individualized suspicion where the primary purpose of the procedure is to promote public safety by deterring conduct potentially injurious to persons and property. (See, e.g., Ingersoll v. Palmer (1987) 43
Implicit in the majority‘s weighing of the “risk [of] appellant escaping [Salas‘s query]” (maj. opn., ante, at p. 985) is a presumption that Salas had a reasonable suspicion to justify the stop. He did not, because the fact giving rise to Salas‘s stop—“[knowing] Fink‘s encounter with appеllant was not satisfactory to Fink“—was insufficient to initiate an investigative stop under In re Tony C. (1978) 21 Cal.3d 888, 893. As offensive as appellant‘s subsequent disrespectful outburst of profanity may have been, it does not elevate the existing circumstances into a
On January 12, 2001, the opinion was modified to read as printed above. Appellant‘s petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied April 11, 2001. Mosk, J., and Kennard, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.