J.J.N., A CHILD, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court held that flight alone, without a lawful basis for detention, does not constitute obstruction of an officer without violence.
Officers pursued J.J.N. after he fled when they approached him while looking for another juvenile. J.J.N. was subsequently adjudicated delinquent for …
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ALTENBERND, Judge.
J.J.N. appeals his adjudication of delinquency for obstructing an officer without violence, and two counts of trespass. He also appeals a separate order declaring him in contempt, but assessing no penalty. We affirm all the adjudications with the exception of obstructing an officer without violence.
The obstruction charge resulted from an incident in which two officers went to a residence looking for a missing juvenile. They had information that the missing juvenile was in the house with J.J.N. The record contains no evidence the officers had any reason to believe that J.J.N. had committed, was committing, or was about to commit any offense at the time they knocked on the door of the house. When the officers knocked on the front door, the two juveniles exited a side door. The officers approached them, and the two juveniles ran away in two different directions. The officer who knew J.J.N. chased him. There is no evidence that the officer ordered J.J.N. to stop. He simply caught J.J.N. and arrested him for obstruction because he had run away. Later, the officers developed facts authorizing the state to charge J.J.N. with trespass of this dwelling.
As Judge Patterson has previously explained in greater detail, flight alone does not constitute obstruction. See F.E.C. v. State, 559 So. 2d 413 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990). The person who flees must know that the officer intends to detain him and the officer must have a basis for a Terry1 stop. Id at 414; D.M. v. State, 681 So. 2d 797 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996). In this case, J.J.N. may have known that the officer intended to detain him, but the record contains no evidence authorizing the officer to detain J.J.N.
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded.
DANAHY, A.C.J., and PATTERSON, J., concur. . Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).
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Yarusso v. State, 942 So. 2d 939 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)…ting an officer. See B.H. v. State, 505 So. 2d 14, 15 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987). This court has repeatedly held that the simple act of fleeing from officers, without more, does not constitute resisting or obstructing an officer. See, e.g., J.J.N. v. State, 696 So. 2d 804, 805 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997); F.E.C. v. State, 559 So. 2d 413, 414 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990). Instead, an individual is guilty of resisting or obstructing an officer by flight only if he flees while knowing of the officer’s intent to detain him and if the offic…
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J.D.H. v. State, 967 So. 2d 1128 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007)…and others have repeatedly held that the simple act of fleeing from officers, without more, does not constitute the offense of resisting or obstructing an officer. See, e.g., Yarusso v. State, 942 So. 2d 939, 943 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006); J.J.N. v. State, 696 So. 2d 804, 805 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997); M.M.H. v. State, 929 So. 2d 628, 629 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006); Baker v. State, 813 So. 2d 1044, 1046 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002). Instead, an individual is guilty of resisting or obstructing an officer by flight only if he flees while kno…
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T.P. v. State, 224 So. 3d 792 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017)…186 (Fla. 1993)). “[A]n individual is guilty of resisting or obstructing an officer by flight only if he flees while knowing of the officer’s intent to detain him mid if the officer is justified in detaining him.” Id. at 943 (citing J.J.N. v. State, 696 So. 2d 804, 805 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997)). The officer was not justified in detaining T.P. at the time he approached him, and T.P.’s flight in response to the officer’s attempted consensual encounter was not sufficient here to provide the officer with reasonable su…
Authorities Cited
- Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (U.S. 1968)
- F.E.C. v. State, 559 So. 2d 413 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990)
- D.M. v. State, 681 So. 2d 797 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996)