Justices: police lights could kill evidence
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – Evidence seized by police can be thrown out of court in some cases if officers turned on their cars’ flashing lights without having a reasonable suspicion of a crime, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Courts have ruled the U.S. Constitution prohibits police from seizing people or things unless they have a reasonable suspicion of lawbreaking.
For a person to be seized, he or she must be physically subdued or submit to an officer’s “show of force.” The 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami had ruled using flashing lights did not qualify as a show of force.
The state Supreme Court disagreed with a unanimous opinion in a drug possession case.
Justice R. Fred Lewis wrote for the court that flashing lights are an important factor but not the only one judges must consider when deciding if police made a show of force before they suspected a crime.
The ruling didn’t help a Miami-Dade County boy identified only as G.M. He had appealed a juvenile court judge’s refusal to exclude marijuana that two undercover narcotics investigators had confiscated from him three years ago when they arrested him.
The high court decided by a 5-2 vote that G.M. had not been seized before the officers smelled marijuana smoke and saw him with a blunt – a cigar hollowed out and filled with marijuana – in the car’s back seat.
That’s because the juvenile had not seen the blue flashing lights of the officers’ unmarked police car when it pulled up behind his vehicle and was unaware they were present until after the investigators saw – and smelled – evidence of a crime, the majority ruled.
The investigators had been sitting in their car across the street from a park where they saw G.M. get out of the parked car, speak to some individuals and then get back into the car.
At that point they hadn’t observed any criminal behavior but pulled up behind the parked car with their lights flashing to investigate what they considered nontraditional but legal park activities.
With the marijuana admitted as evidence, G.M. pleaded no contest but appealed the judge’s ruling.
While the high court let his conviction stand, Lewis wrote it would have been a different outcome if G.M. had seen the police lights as well as the officers displaying their badges and holstered guns before they suspected a crime was occurring.
It was clear from that scenario that a reasonable person would believe he or she was not free to leave and would be considered seized, Lewis wrote.
“Moreover, it would be both dangerous and irresponsible for this Court to advise Florida citizens that they should feel free to simply ignore the officers, walk away, and refuse to interact with these officers under such circumstances,” Lewis added.
Justice Barbara Pariente wrote a dissent, joined by Chief Justice Peggy Quince, saying she didn’t believe the state had proven G.M. was unaware of the flashing lights.