Fall 2017 Office of General Counsel
Florida Case Law Update 17-06 Case:
Presley v. State, 42 Fla. L. Weekly S817a (Fla.)
Date: September 20, 2017 Subject: Update to Florida Case Law Update 16-06: Officer May Legally Detain a Passenger for the Reasonable Duration of Traffic Stop
FACTS: Presley was a passenger riding in a vehicle that was stopped by law enforcement for having a faulty taillight and for a stop sign violation. Another passenger in the vehicle became belligerent, requiring offic- ers to detain and handcuff him. As Presley and the driver were waiting, a backup officer obtained Presley’s name and ID and started questioning Presley. The officer informed Presley that he could not leave because he was part of the traffic stop. A background check of Presley revealed that Presley was on drug offender probation and not allowed to consume alcohol, but Presley admitted to the officer that he had been drink- ing. The officer conducted an on-view VOP arrest and during a search incident to arrest, found cocaine in Presley’s pocket. Presley moved to suppress his statements and all evidence on the basis that he was ille- gally detained during the traffic stop. The trial court denied the motion and the First District Court of Ap- peal affirmed the denial, holding that officers may detain passengers during lawful traffic stops and agree- ing with the Fifth District’s holding in Aguiar v. State, 199 So. 3d 920 (Fla. 5th DCA 2016). The Aguiar court held that the inconvenience in detaining a passenger was de minimus when balanced against legitimate concerns for an officer’s safety. In Aguiar, the Fifth District certified conflict to the Florida Supreme Court with the Fourth District’s holding in Wilson v. State, 734 So. 2d 1107 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999). In Wilson, the Fourth District Court of Appeal held that an officer must have an articulable founded suspicion of criminal activity or a reasonable belief of a threat to officer safety before ordering a passenger to return to and re- main in a vehicle. Like the Fifth District in Aguiar, the Presley court certified conflict with Wilson v. State.
RULING: The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Presley’s motion to suppress and in doing so, approved the rationale of the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Aguiar. In agreeing with the holdings of Presley and Aguiar, the Court concluded that law enforcement officers may prevent a passenger from leav- ing a traffic stop, as a matter of course, without violating his/her Fourth Amendment rights due to the mini- mal intrusion on the passenger compared to officer safety concerns during a traffic stop.
DISCUSSION: The Florida Supreme Court quoted the Fifth District’s analysis in Aguiar, stating that even if detaining a departing vehicle passenger is more burdensome than ordering a stopped passenger out of a vehicle, such infringement is minimal because “(1) the passenger's planned mode of travel has already been lawfully interrupted; (2) the passenger has already been ‘stopped’ due to the driver's lawful deten- tion; and (3) routine traffic stops are brief in duration.” In addition to approving Aguiar, the Florida Su- preme Court analyzed the specific facts of Presley’s case. The court noted that during the traffic stop, when another passenger became belligerent and attempted to leave, it forced police to deal with that situation. Backup officers were advised about Presley’s probation status shortly upon arriving on scene. The Court stated that for the primary officer to complete his mission safely, the detention of the vehicle’s occupants was reasonably extended in order for backup officers to assist with the driver and Presley. In sum, the Court found that nothing in the record suggested that the duration of the traffic stop was unreasonable and therefore the seizure of Presley, a passenger, did not violate his Fourth Amendment rights.
Laura B. Coln, Regional Legal Advisor Florida Department of Law Enforcement Orlando Regional Operations Center
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