State v. LosoyaState v. Losoya
- Reporters:
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- Before:
- Patterson
OPINION
JAN P. PATTERSON, Justice.
The State appeals from the trial court’s order granting appellee Brian David Loso-ya’s motion to suppress evidence.
See
Around 2:00 р.m. on October 28, 2002, Killeen Police Officers Amanda Locklear and Keith Drozd were dispatched to 3407 Victoria Circle, apartment D, in response to an anonymous telephone call reporting “narcotics activities” at that address. Drozd testified that the unknown tipster mentioned the names “Vino” and “Terry,” and also referred to “a black male” and “a fat white boy.” There was no mention of аn Hispanic male or of a red Chevrolet S 10 pickup truck. Both officers testified that the Victoria Circle area was known for drug trafficking.
The officers arrived at the scene a few minutes after being dispatched and parked some distance away from the suspect address. A red Chevrolet S-10 and another vehicle were parked outside the apartment. The officers saw two males, one Hispanic and one black, walk out of the apartment. The men briefly conversed, then noticed the two officers walking toward them. The Hispanic male walked over to the S-10, got in, and drove аway. The black male entered the apartment and *414 closed the door. The two officers described the men’s movements as “hasty” and “quick.” The officers testified that they considered the men’s aсtions to be suspicious under the circumstances, but acknowledged that they did not witness any apparent narcotics activity.
Drozd radioed the red pickup truck’s description and license plаte number. He and Locklear then knocked on the door of the apartment. No one responded, even after the officers identified themselves. As the officers began to return to their patrol vehicles, they heard a radioed report that the red pickup had been spotted nearby on Raneier Street. They drove to the 2900 block of Raneier, where they saw the red pickuр being followed by Officer Philip Grey’s patrol car. Drozd testified that he noticed that the pickup did not have a license plate mounted on the front bumper. Instead, the plate was wedged betwеen the dashboard and windshield. Drozd radioed this fact to Grey and instructed him to stop the pickup. At the hearing below, Drozd added that while he could see the license plate in the truck’s window, he could not read it because of the glare of the sun on the windshield.
Losoya was the Hispanic man seen leaving apartment D and the driver of the red Chevrolet S-10. After being stopped, he gave the officеrs written permission to search the pickup. They found a marihuana “blunt” in the glove compartment. Lo-soya told the officers that the marihuana belonged to him and that he had forgotten it was there. He said that he had gone to the apartment to pick up a video game he had loaned to a person he knew only as “B.” He testified that he had removed the license plate from the frоnt bumper while working on the pickup and had temporarily wedged it against the windshield.
Based on this evidence, the trial court ruled that the stop of Losoya’s pickup truck was not justified by either a reasоnable suspicion of narcotics possession or an observed traffic offense. The State challenges both of these conclusions. Because the relevant facts are not in dispute and the court expressly stated that “[t]his is not a credibility issue as to the police officers,” we will conduct a de novo review to determine if the court properly applied the law to the facts. See Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85, 89 (Tex.Crim.App.1997).
A police officer may stop and briefly detain a person for investigative purposes if the officer, in light of his experience, has a reasonable suspicion supported by sрecific articulable facts that the person detained is, has been, or soon will be engaged in criminal activity. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 30, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); Woods v. State, 956 S.W.2d 33, 38 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). A reasonable suspicion means more than a mere hunch or suspiсion. Davis v. State, 947 S.W.2d 240, 244 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). The reasonableness of a detention must be examined in terms of the totality of the circumstances. Woods, 956 S.W.2d at 38.
An anonymous tip or telephone call may justify the initiation of an investigation, but will аlone rarely establish the level of suspicion required to justify a detention. Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 329, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990); Stewart v. State, 22 S.W.3d 646, 648 (Tex.App.Austin 2000, pet. ref‘d). Normally, a police officer must have additional facts before the officer may reasonably conclude that the tip is reliable and an investigatory detention is justified. Stewart, 22 S.W.3d at 648. An officer’s prior knowledge and experience, and his corroboration of the details of the tip, may be considеred in giving the anonymous tip the weight it deserves. Id.
*415 In this cause, the anonymous tip reported “narcotics activities” without giving any further details regarding those activities. The tip did not mention Losoya or his pickuр track, either by name or by description. Although the presence of a “black male” was corroborated, this fact does not tend to show that the tipster had knowledge of concealеd criminal activity. See Florida v. J. L., 529 U.S. 266, 272, 120 S.Ct. 1375, 146 L.Ed.2d 254 (2000); Stewart, 22 S.W.3d at 648-49.
The officers knew from experience that the Victoria Circle area was an active drag-trafficking center. It was this knowledge, combined with Losoya’s “hasty” departure when he noticed them, that the officers cited as giving rise to their suspicion that Losoya was engaged in criminal activity. But Losoya’s conduct was suspicious only if the anonymous tip is deemed credible; that is, only if one assumes that narcotics activities were taking place in apartment D. The State cites no authority holding that a person’s presence in a high-crime area justifies a detention.
Neither the officers’ knowledge of the neighborhood’s bad reputation nor the innocuous activities observed by the officers at Victoria Circle added any meaningful corroboration to the undetailed, anonymous tip. We hold that the totality of the circumstances shown by this record did not objectively support a reasonable suspicion that Losoya had been engaged in narcotiсs or other criminal activity at the apartment, or that he possessed drags in his pickup truck. The State’s second issue or point of error is overruled.
We turn to the State’s other justification for the stоp, Losoya’s failure to have the license plate attached to the front bumper of his track. Officer Drozd testified and the State now argues that this was a violation of transportation code section 502.404(a), which requires that a motor vehicle “display two license plates, at the front and rear of the vehicle.”
The State argues by reference tо section 547.321(b), which requires vehicles to have headlamps “mounted on each side of the front of the vehicle.”
Losoya refers us to the statutory predecessor of
The apparent purpose of
The State also argues, as it did below, that the evidence shows a violation of transportation code section 502.409(a)(5) and (7), which at the time in question prohibited the display of a license plate that “has letters, numbers, or other identification marks that because of blurring matter are not plainly visible at all times during daylight” or that “has a coating, covering, or protective material that distorts angular visibility or detectability.” Act of May 30, 1999, 76th Leg., R.S., ch. 1189, § 17,1999 Tex. Gen. Laws 4158, 4161 (
There is no evidence that the letters and numbers on Losoya’s front license plate were blurred, obscured, or otherwise unreadable because any material on either the plate or the windshield. We do not believe that sunlight can reasonably be considered to be “blurring matter.” There is also no evidence that the windshield distorted angular visibility or detectability. We find no basis in this record for reasonably suspecting a violation of
The order granting the motion to suppress is affirmed.