THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
GARY THOMAS CHAPMAN, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 1979-10-09
No. 78-2290
Before HENDRY and HUBBART, JJ., and CHAPPELL, BILL G., Associate Judge.
376 So. 2d 262 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1979) Negative Treatment
Cited by 27 cases

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Holding

An off-duty municipal police officer acting outside his jurisdiction, without hot pursuit, has no authority to detain a suspect beyond that of a private citizen.


Headnotes

[1] An off-duty municipal police officer acting outside of their jurisdiction has no right of arrest beyond that of a private citizen.

[2] A private citizen may arrest a person who commits a felony in their presence or where a felony has been committed and the citizen has probable cause to believe the person…

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Facts & Procedural History

An off-duty police officer, outside his jurisdiction, observed the defendant in a yard and later carrying a tape deck. The officer detained the defend…

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Opinion of the Court
PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM.

This appeal by the State of Florida stems from an order of the trial court granting defendant’s motion to suppress tangible evidence. At issue is the authority of an off-duty police officer, outside of his jurisdiction, to detain the defendant and subsequently deliver him to the custody of law enforcement officers of that jurisdiction.

At approximately 2:30 A.M. on December 16, 1977, Coral Gables police officer, Michael Infante, was returning to his home, and he observed the defendant and another individual standing between some parked cars in a yard located three houses away from Officer Infante’s home. Officer In-fante was off duty, was not in uniform and was not driving a marked police vehicle. His home was not located within the municipal limits of Coral Gables.

Though he did not observe the defendant or the other individual touch any of the vehicles, Officer Infante went inside his home and telephoned the Dade County Public Safety Department because he did not recognize either of them as a resident of the area. He then returned outside and continued to observe the two men. Officer In-fante saw one of the men leave the area and subsequently observed the defendant walking toward him carrying what appeared to be a tape deck or a radio in one hand.

Officer Infante was standing behind a big tree, and when the defendant was within a few feet of him, he stepped out and confronted him. Infante identified himself as a Coral Gables police officer, displayed his badge and directed defendant to place the item he was carrying on the ground. At this point Infante noticed that defendant had a sock over one arm while he had been carrying a tape deck in the other hand. Infante then patted down the defendant, asked for identification and detained him. Upon arrival, the public safety officer took custody of the defendant and received his identification from Infante. After locking defendant in a police unit, all of the officers examined the parked vehicles and discovered a screwdriver in the door of a red Toyota from which the tape player was missing.

The trial court’s order granting defendant’s motion to suppress the tape deck stated:

**

“5. At no time did Officer Infante actually see the defendant touch the vehicle or try to break into the vehicle, though he had seen defendant bending down in the vicinity of the vehicles. The court concerns itself with the validity of the initial detention of the defendant. The court finds that Officer Infante had no probable cause to arrest or detain the defendant. . . . ”

A trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress comes to this court with a presumption of correctness, and in testing the accuracy of the trial court’s conclusions, we should interpret the evidence and all reasonable inferences and deductions capable therefrom in a light most favorable to sustain these conclusions. Brenner v. State, 337 So. 2d 1007 (Fla.3d DCA 1976).

While we agree with the trial court’s finding of no probable cause, we do not agree with the contentions of the State that the concepts of founded suspicion and the stop and frisk statute, Section 901.151, Florida Statutes (1977), apply to a municipal officer outside his jurisdiction and not in “hot pursuit”. A municipal officer may conduct a lawful investigation outside his territorial jurisdiction, Parker v. State, 362 So. 2d 1033 (Fla.1st DCA 1978), but the subject matter of the investigation must have originated in his own jurisdiction. Brenner v. State, supra.

An off-duty municipal police officer outside his jurisdiction has no right of arrest other than as a private citizen. Schachter v. State, 338 So. 2d 269 (Fla.3d DCA 1976). A private person has a common law right to arrest a person who commits a felony in his presence, or to arrest a person where a felony has been committed, and where the arresting citizen has probable cause to believe, and does believe, the person arrested to be guilty. Collins v. State, 143 So. 2d 700 (Fla.2d DCA 1962). Clearly our stop and frisk law does not authorize detention by private persons. Here, there was no felony committed in Officer Infante’s presence, and he had no knowledge of a felony being committed during his detention of the defendant.

Further, we might determine whether Officer Infante’s actions are sustainable by ascertaining whether he was acting “under color of his office” at the time of the arrest. State v. Crum, 323 So. 2d 673 (Fla.3d DCA 1976). Admittedly, upon confronting the defendant, he identified himself as a police officer, displayed his badge, ordered defendant to place the tape deck on the ground, subjected defendant to a pat-down, obtained identification from him, and detained him until local officers arrived and took custody. Clearly, Officer Infante held himself out as a police officer and was acting “under color of his office” while outside his jurisdiction. Whether it be considered an arrest or detention, it was invalid and a seizure of the tape deck pursuant thereto was likewise invalid. Collins v. State, supra.

The trial court is affirmed.


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Citator

Cited By (14 total)

  • Phoenix v. State, 455 So. 2d 1024 (Fla. 1984)
    …(5th Cir.1980). At least one district court of appeal has held that a police officer is acting under color of his office if he announces he is a police officer and displays his badge when making an arrest outside his jurisdiction. State v. Chapman, 376 So. 2d 262 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979), cert. denied, 386 So. 2d 642 (Fla.1980). See also State v. Jimerson, 330 So. 2d 169 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976). However, the majority of the courts have disagreed, holding that the “under color of office” doctrine applies only to preven…
  • State v. Phoenix, 428 So. 2d 262 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982)
    …n arrest (1) for a felony committed in their presence and (2) for a felony that they know was committed if they have probable cause to believe and do believe that the person arrested perpetrated the felony. State v. Shipman, supra; State v. Chapman, 376 So. 2d 262 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979), cert. denied, 386 So. 2d 642 (Fla.1980). But private persons, even if they know a felony was committed, have no right to stop, much less arrest, a suspect on the grounds of founded suspicion alone. State v. Schuyler, 390 So. 2d 4…
    1 / 2
  • State v. Furr, 723 So. 2d 842 (Fla. 1st DCA 1998)
    …an earlier district court of appeal decision holding that a police officer is acting under “color of office” if the officer announces he is a police officer and displays his badge when making an arrest outside his jurisdiction. See State v. Chapman, 376 So. 2d 262 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979), cert. denied, 386 So. 2d 642 (Fla.1980). In the present case, Officer Mitchell wore his City of Gretna police uniform, operated a city police cruiser, and used his blue lights to detain Furr. Under Phoenix, however, such actions…

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