State v. LewisState v. Lewis
With all three members of the panel concurring that the police had stopped respondent without reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968) and
Testimony presented at the hearing on the motion to suppress revealed that following
Under these circumstances, the trial court correctly determined that while Officers Pratt and White were about to conduct a full Terry stop, respondent “ran prior to them doing that and then ... the evidence [was] discarded. I think they have the right to approach him....” It is settled that “law enforcement officers do not violate the Fourth Amendment by merely approaching an individual on the street or in another public place, by asking him if he is willing to answer some questions, by putting questions to him if the person is willing to listen....” Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 498, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 1324, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983)(White, J.); see also Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 439, 111 S.Ct. 2382, 2388, 115 L.Ed.2d 389 (1981)(“[T]he proposition that police officers can approach individuals as to whom they have no reasonable suspicion and ask them potentially incriminating questions.... is by no means novel; it has been endorsed by the Court any number of times.“) (citations omitted). An officer‘s request for identification does not turn the encounter into a forcible detention unless the request is accompanied by an unmistakable show of official authority indicating to the person that he or she is not free to leave. Royer, 460 U.S. at 501, 103 S.Ct. at 1326; see also I.N.S. v. Delgado, 466 U.S. 210, 216, 104 S.Ct. 1758, 1762, 80 L.Ed.2d 247 (1984)(“[I]nterrogation relating to one‘s identity or a request for identification by the police does not, by itself, constitute a Fourth Amendment seizure.“); 4 Wayne R. LaFave, Search and Seizure, § 9.3(a), pp. 100-101 (3rd ed. 1996)(“The critical factor is whether the policeman, even if making inquiries a private citizen would not, has otherwise conducted himself in a manner which would be perceived as a nonoffensive contact if it occurred between two ordinary citizens.“) (footnotes omitted).
When the police lack reasonable suspicion to detain an individual by force or by submission to a show of official authority, see California v. Hodari D., 499 U.S. 621, 111 S.Ct. 1547, 113 L.Ed.2d 690 (1991), the individual “need not answer any question put to him; indeed, he may decline
Headlong flight—whenever it occurs—is the consummate act of evasion: It is not necessarily indicative of wrongdoing, but it is certainly suggestive of such. In reviewing the propriety of an officer‘s conduct, courts do not have available empirical studies dealing with inferences drawn from suspicious behavior, and we cannot reasonably demand scientific certainty from judges or law enforcement officers where none exists....
Such a holding is entirely consistent with our decision in [Royer], where we held that when an officer without reasonable suspicion or probable cause, approaches an individual, the individual has a right to ignore the police and go about his business. And any `refusal to cooperate, without more, does not furnish the minimal level of objective justification needed for a detention or seizure.’ [Bostick, 501 U.S. at 437, 111 S.Ct. at 2387]. But unprovoked flight is simply not a mere refusal to cooperate. Flight, by its very nature, is not `going about one‘s business‘; in fact, it is just the opposite. Allowing officers confronted with such flight to stop the fugitive and investigate further is quite consistent with the individual‘s right to go about his business or to stay put and remain silent in the face of police questioning.
In the present case, with or without reasonable suspicion, Officers Pratt and White had the right to approach respondent and his companion and to ask them a few questions. Officer White‘s request for identification without any greater show of authority did not transform the encounter into a forcible detention and did not “provoke” respondent to flight. Even assuming that the foot chase initiated by Officer Pratt when respondent turned and ran signaled that an “imminent actual stop” was about to occur, see State v. Tucker, 626 So.2d 707, 712-13 (La.1993), the totality of the circumstances known to the officer at the time, including the residents’ complaints of drug activity, the “hot spot” nature of the area, respondent‘s nervousness, and, most importantly, his unprovoked headlong flight from the officer, gave rise to reasonable suspicion for an investigatory detention.
The decision of the court of appeal is therefore reversed, the ruling of the trial court on the motion to suppress is reinstated, as are respondent‘s convictions and sentences by way of guilty pleas premised on review of the suppression issue, see State v. Crosby, 338 So.2d 584 (La.1976), and this case is remanded to the district court for execution of sentence.
DECISION OF THE COURT OF APPEAL REVERSED; JUDGMENT OF THE DISTRICT COURT REINSTATED; CONVICTION AND SENTENCE REINSTATED; CASE REMANDED.
JOHNSON, J., dissents.