GREGORY ROY BAKER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Baker was stopped by a police officer late at night while parked near a closed business. The court reversed his convictions for burglary, grand theft, and possession of burglary tools because the initial stop lacked reasonable suspicion under Terry v. Ohio standards.
The court held that the officer lacked well-founded suspicion to justify the Terry stop. The fact that Baker was parked late at night near a closed business, even combined with the presence of another person walking near the business, did not establish reasonable grounds for suspicion of criminal activity.
[1] A police officer's suspicion that a person is loitering, without more, does not establish grounds for a Terry stop.
[2] Parking a vehicle late at night near a closed business, without additional facts suggesting criminal activity, does not create reasonable suspicion for a Terry stop.
Previewing 2 of 5 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“The fact that Baker was parked late at night near a closed business does not establish grounds for a Terry stop. The officer had no reasonable grounds for suspicion that the closed business had been or was about to be burgled.”
Establishes the core holding that parking near a closed business at night alone is insufficient for Terry stop justification.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAt 3:00 a.m., a police officer observed Baker sitting in his van near a closed business and noticed another man walking away from the business. After …
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HARRIS, J.
A police officer transporting a prisoner observed Baker sitting in his van near a closed business at 3:00 a.m. The officer also observed another man walking away from the business. The officer put his vehicle in reverse and, with his blue lights on, pulled behind the van. Baker got out of the van, lifted the hood, tinkered with the engine, got back into the van, started the engine and, with a thumbs up sign to the officer, pulled away from the curb. He stopped when the siren sounded. Baker explained to the officer that he was experiencing battery problems but that he was finally able to start his van. The disbelieving officer, because he had a prisoner in his vehicle, required Baker to remain where he was until other officers arrived. Baker was ultimately convicted of burglary, possession of burglary tools, and grand theft based on the officers finding bolt cutters in the back of his van and on certain incriminating statements which he made. He appeals the court’s failure to suppress because the officer had no well-founded suspicion to make the Terry stop. We agree and reverse.
The fact that Baker was parked late at night near a closed business does not establish grounds for a Terry stop. The officer had no reasonable grounds for suspicion that the closed business had been or was about to be burgled. Even the additional fact that another person, who so far as the officer knew was unconnected with Baker, was walking near the closed business does not help. Baker’s effort to leave the area after the adjustment, or feigned adjustment, of his battery was nothing more than walking away from the officer. See Dames v. State, 566 So. 2d 51 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990).
The officer testified that he had a suspicion that Baker was loitering and that the suspicion was the reason for the stop. There is no indication in this record as to what Baker was doing, other than merely sitting in his van at 3:00 in the morning near a closed business, which would warrant a “justifiable and reasonable alarm or immediate concern for the safety of persons or property in the vicinity.” See section 856.021, Fla. Stat. (1999). If Baker’s actions are sufficient to warrant a Terry stop, then anyone who parks in a business area late at night would be subject to a Terry stop. Both the loitering statute and common sense require more than this.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
COBB, J„ and ORFINGER, M., Senior Judge, concur.
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Donnie Young v. State, 803 So. 2d 880 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002)…suspicion that Mr. Hrezo had committed or was about to commit a crime when he turned on his emergency lights” and, therefore, the seized drugs and paraphernalia “were the fruit of an unlawful stop.” 780 So. 2d at 196. Similarly, in Baker v. State, 754 So. 2d 154 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000), an officer observed the defendant seated in a van parked outside a closed business at three o’clock in the morning. The officer pulled in behind the van with his blue lights on, at which time the defendant exited the van, checke…
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State v. Baez, 894 So. 2d 115 (Fla. 2004)…or him to make Parsons exit his automobile, there was no reasonable suspicion to justify the detention, as neither the officer nor the State could “articulate a crime connected to these facts that would support a Terry stop.” Id. In Baker v. State, 754 So. 2d 154, 154 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000), the officer observed the defendant in a van near a closed business at 3 a.m. When the defendant saw the officer, he “got out of the van, lifted the hood, tinkered with the engine, got back into the van, started the engine a…
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State v. Taylor, 826 So. 2d 399 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)…parked car in parking lot at 1:40 a.m.); Fifth District: Young v. State, 803 So. 2d 880 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002)(reversing denial of suppression motion where police only observe car drive into parking lot and legally park at 12:25 a.m.); Baker v. State, 754 So. 2d 154 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000)(reversing denial of suppression motion because police only observe legally parked van at 3:00 a.m.); Bowen v. State, 685 So. 2d 942 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996)(reversing denial of suppression motion where police observe legally parked ca…1 / 2
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Dames v. State, 566 So. 2d 51 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)