STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
LINDER DOUGLAS MATUL, APPELLEE
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Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a suppression order, holding that when a suspect voluntarily discards an object during a consensual encounter and officers subsequently discover contraband, the officers acquire probable cause to investigate without an unlawful seizure occurring.
Once Matul threw the water bottle containing methamphetamine, the officers had probable cause to investigate, and no unlawful seizure occurred because Matul voluntarily dropped the object rather than submitting to a police command.
[1] A voluntary discard of an object by a suspect during a consensual police encounter, followed by discovery of contraband, provides probable cause for investigation without…
Previewing 1 of 1 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“an unlawful seizure only takes place if the person either willingly obeys or is physically forced to obey the police request, i.e. there is no unlawful seizure when the person "drops then stops," even where the drop occurs after an order to stop.”
Court's explanation of the legal standard for determining whether a seizure is unlawful when a suspect discards an object during police encounter.
Four officers approached a group of men, including Matul, gathered in front of a Lake Worth residence. Though the officers recognized some men as gang…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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POLEN, J.
The state timely appeals an August 23, 2007 non-final order granting Appellant Linder Douglas Matul’s motion to suppress physical evidence and verbal statements.
Four officers approached a group of men gathered in front of a residence in Lake Worth. Though the officers did recognize Matul and some of the men as members of the 18th Street Gang, the officers had no articulable suspicion when they first approached the men. It was merely a consensual citizen encounter. See Popple v. State, 626 So. 2d 185 (Fla.1993).
As the officers approached, Matul walked away and threw an Aquafina water bottle. One of the officers inspected the bottle, ultimately finding that the bottle contained a hidden compartment with crystal methamphetamine. We hold that once Matul threw the bottle, the officers had probable cause to investigate. We hold that this was an example of a “drop then stop.” As this court has held, “an unlawful seizure only-takes place if the person either willingly obeys or is physically forced to obey the police request, i.e. there is no unlawful seizure when the person “drops then stops,” even where the drop occurs after an order to stop.” See Johnson v. State, 640 So. 2d 136 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994).
We reverse as the motion to suppress should have been denied.
Reversed, and remanded.
WARNER and TAYLOR, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Tedd J. Popple v. State, 626 So. 2d 185 (Fla. 1993)
- Johnson v. State, 640 So. 2d 136 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994)