People v. Vasquez CA3

Filed 3/20/15 P. v. Vasquez CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Sacramento) ----

THE PEOPLE, C073472

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 11F05952)

v.

PHILLIP FERNANDO VASQUEZ et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

After their suppression motion was denied, defendants Phillip Fernando Vasquez and Richard Salvadore Velasquez entered pleas of no contest to participation in a criminal street gang (Pen. Code, § 186.22, subd. (a)—count four) in exchange for stipulated sentences of three years and dismissal of the remaining counts. Sentenced accordingly, both defendants appeal. They raise only one and the same issue. They contend the trial court erroneously denied their suppression motion. We disagree and will affirm the judgments.

1

FACTS1 About 6:24 p.m. on August 24, 2011, Sacramento Police Officer Roy Lacy and his partner Officer Wallace were dispatched to a gas station on Franklin Boulevard, a high crime area, on a report at 6:21 p.m. of a disturbance involving two Black women and a Black man. On the way to the station, the officers learned that the complainant, whose race was unknown, had armed himself with a baseball bat and had followed the people outside, leaving the phone at the station store off the hook and no one responding to the dispatcher, who heard yelling in the background. When Officer Lacy drove up to the gas station at 6:27 p.m., he did not know whether the complainant was outside the store or whether other people were involved. The officer parked his patrol car on the north side of the lot, got out, and had started toward the front door of the gas station store, located 12 to 15 feet away, when an Hispanic man walked out of the front door. No one else came out of the store. The officer did not know whether the Hispanic man was involved in the disturbance and asked him whether he knew anything about what was happening at the station. The Hispanic man, later identified as defendant Velasquez, did not stop, threw his hands up, responded, “I don’t have anything to do with what’s going on here at the store,” and started walking quickly toward a car parked at the pumps. Officer Lacy followed defendant Velasquez; as the officer got closer, defendant Velasquez walked faster, and when he got to the rear bumper of the car, he ran (quickened his pace) to the driver’s door, got inside, closed the door, and reached for the ignition. Officer Lacy opened the driver’s door, grabbed defendant Velasquez’s left arm, and pulled him out of the car, detaining him in handcuffs. A gun was found in the waistband of defendant Velasquez’s pants. Officer Wallace had drawn his weapon and was holding the other two occupants