JEROME A. POWELL, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Jerome Powell was convicted of cocaine possession and obstructing an officer after police searched him based on an anonymous tip. The appellate court reversed, holding that an anonymous tip providing only suspect description and location is insufficient for a valid arrest and search without independent evidence of actual criminal activity.
An anonymous tip corroborated only as to the suspect's identity, dress, description, and location is insufficient to justify an arrest and search. Independent evidence of actual criminal activity—separate from verified descriptive information about the suspect—is required for a lawful arrest and search.
[1] An anonymous tip alone, even if corroborated with descriptive details and location, does not provide reasonable suspicion for a stop or search without independent evidenc…
[2] A police officer's suspicion of illegal activity, without independent evidence of criminal conduct, is insufficient to justify a search of a person's person.
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“In order for an anonymous tip to provide probable cause for an investigative stop, the tip must be corroborated by independent police investigation so as to create a reasonable suspicion that a suspect is engaged in criminal activity.”
Establishes the standard for using anonymous tips in investigative stops
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceTwo Tampa officers received an anonymous dispatch reporting a fight with one participant described as a black male in blue jeans and red Adidas shirt …
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Anonymous Tip Corroboration cases and more on FLexlaw
CAMPBELL, Acting Chief Judge.
Appellant, convicted of possession of cocaine and obstructing an officer, argues that the court should have granted his motion to suppress the cocaine that officers discovered in his pocket during a search of his person. We agree and, accordingly, reverse.
Briefly, two Tampa officers on patrol received a dispatch that there was a fight at a certain location and that one of the individuals was a black male wearing blue jeans and a red shirt with Adidas insignia who had rock cocaine in his front pants pocket. When the officers arrived, they saw appellant wearing the clothes described. They approached him, but he walked away. They told him to stop, but he kept walking. The. officers touched him, and he pulled away. He tried to run, but the officers grabbed him, arrested him, patted him down and found cocaine in his pocket.
The officers stopped appellant on the basis of an anonymous tip. In order for an anonymous tip to provide probable cause for an investigative stop, the tip must be corroborated by independent police investigation so as to create a reasonable suspicion that a suspect is engaged in criminal activity. However, in order for a subsequent arrest or search to be valid, there must be independent evidence of criminal activity apart from the otherwise verified anonymous tip. “It is not sufficient merely to corroborate the anonymous information concerning the identity, dress, description, location or even future activity of the sus-pect_ In addition to independent evidence verifying that type of information, there must also be independent evidence of criminal activity....” Cunningham v. State, 591 So. 2d 1058, (Fla.2d DCA 1991).
Since the officers here did not have any independent indication that appellant was involved in criminal activity apart from the anonymous tip, the arrest and subsequent search of appellant were invalid and the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress. We, accordingly, reverse and remand.
Although appellant raises two other points on appeal, we decline to reach them in view of our reversal on the first issue.
HALL and PATTERSON, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
L.M. v. State, 694 So. 2d 118 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)…e temporary detention of a citizen. In order for this to happen the tip must be corroborated by independent police investigation. Fuller v. State, 658 So. 2d 1202 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995); State v. Diaz, 595 So. 2d 969 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992); Powell v. State, 592 So. 2d 785 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992); State v. Hetland, 366 So. 2d 831 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979), opinion adopted, 387 So. 2d 963 (Fla.1980). L.M. suggests that the anonymous tip in this case lacked any such police corroboration. We agree. The present case is most analogou…
-
R.A. v. State, 725 So. 2d 1240 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999)…204, 23 Fla. L. Weekly S626 (Fla.1998). See also Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990); Fuller v. State, 658 So. 2d 1202 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995); [*1242] State v. Diaz, 595 So. 2d 969 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992); Powell v. State, 592 So. 2d 785 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992); State v. Hetland, 366 So. 2d 831 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979), opinion adopted, 387 So. 2d 963 (Fla.1980). “The ‘totality of the circumstances’ test is used to determine the requisite level of suspicion_ The reliability of an anonymous tip…
-
State v. Miranda, 701 So. 2d 424 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997)…nnocent in nature. See 496 U.S. at 330-32, 110 S.Ct. at 2416-17. Because the law of anonymous tips is not controlling in the present case, we need not explore the issue in more detail. We only point out that the decisions in Lewis, Powell v. State, 592 So. 2d 785 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992), and Cunningham v. State, 591 So. 2d 1058 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991), need to be read with great caution, and Alabama v. White is controlling to the extent of any inconsistency.…
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Cunningham v. State, 591 So. 2d 1058 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991)