Around 1:30 a.m. on February 28, 2009, a police radio “be-on-the-lookout” (BOLO) dispatch reported two white men in a vehicle pulled a black 9-mm handgun on a man named Cecil Brown in the area of Carolina and Macomb Streets in Tallahassee. One of the gunmen reportedly wore a hat. This information derived from a 911 call to the police by a caller who identified himself as the victim, Cecil Brown. The caller provided a cell phone number where he could be reached, specifically described his clothing (bluejeans, a black turtleneck, and a green Miami Hurricanes jacket), identified his street corner location, and described the gunmen's vehicle as a black GMC Yukon bearing license plate number 285WZX and displaying a Florida State University decal on its rear window. The caller reported the vehicle was heading west near the 500 block of Tennessee Street.
The unoccupied GMC Yukon, with the license tag number and FSU decal, exactly as reported, was parked in front of a gas station/convenience store at Tennessee and Call Streets, not far from the reported incident site. Although spying a number of people in the parking lot, Officer Harriett saw only two white men (one wearing a hat). These men stood directly beside the FSU decal-bearing GMC Yukon. Harriett believed the two men were the subjects of the 911 call. Significantly outnumbered and knowing the men were reportedly armed, Officer Harriett exited his police vehicle and ordered everyone to sit on the ground for safety reasons. Everyone complied with the order except the white man who was not wearing a hat.
During the detention, Officer Harriett looked under the Yukon where DeLuca's arm had been and found several packets of white powder, some of which was
cocaine.
Officer Harriett's order to the assembled crowd to sit on the ground was a “seizure” or detention for Fourth Amendment purposes.
See Gipson v. State,667 So.2d 418, 419-20 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996). For a justified temporary detention, Officer Harriett must have had a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
See § 901.151(2), Fla. Stat. (2008);
Terry, 392 U.S. at 24-26; Baptiste, 995 So.2d at 290. “[W]hen the police act on the information of an informant, the reliability of that information must be established before a citizen can be stopped and frisked.”
J.L. v. State,727 So.2d 204, 206 (Fla.1998),
aff'd, Fla. v. J.L., 529 U.S. 266 (2000);
see also State v. Manuel,796 So.2d 602, 605 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001).
This Court held that the seizure was valid. However, it gives a good synopsis of what police must do when they receive information from an informant.
July 16, 2010