People v. Vasquez CA3

Filed 7/10/15 P. v. Vasquez CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, C077226

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 14F03561)

v.

ABRAN VASQUEZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

After a motion to suppress the evidence against him was denied, defendant Abran Vasquez pled no contest to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to two years in prison. On appeal, he contends the court erred in failing to suppress the evidence against him. We disagree and affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND At 10:19 p.m. on May 23, 2014, uniformed Sacramento Police Officer Brian Surjan was driving his marked patrol car in the area of North Avenue and Palmetto Street when he saw a bicyclist wearing a backpack pedaling on the wrong side of the road

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toward him without a headlight. As the officer drove closer, the bicyclist, who was later identified as defendant, immediately got off the bicycle, dropped it, and went into the front yard of 901 North Avenue. As defendant entered the front yard, the officer (who was now out of his patrol car and standing outside of the yard) told him to stop. Traveling on the wrong side of the road and biking at night without a light are violations of the Vehicle Code. Defendant did not stop and “continued to walk away from [the officer].” The officer decided not to go inside the yard because there were two pit bulls inside the yard, which was surrounded by a four-feet high chain-link fence with a rolling gate. The front yard was “fairly large” and the house was set “fairly far back.” Defendant continued walking toward the house, despite the officer telling him again to stop. Defendant turned toward the officer, but continued walking toward the house, backwards, asking why. The officer said he needed to talk to him and to come toward the officer. Defendant kept asking why and what he did wrong, in an argumentative tone. The officer said he had broken the law by riding without a bike light and that the officer was ordering him to come toward the officer. The officer ordered defendant more times to walk over to him. After about two minutes of the officer telling defendant that he needed to walk over to him, defendant took off his backpack, dropped it on the ground, and walked over to the officer. At the same time, a woman came out of the house and began walking toward them. Defendant yelled at the woman to take the backpack inside, but the officer told her not to touch the backpack and take the two dogs inside. Eventually, she did “grab[] the dogs.” The officer opened the gate and handcuffed defendant for resisting and delaying the officer in his duties. A sergeant arrived and retrieved the backpack from the yard, which was 15 feet from the entrance of the yard, and put the backpack into the patrol car. Defendant was also put inside the patrol car. The police then searched the backpack, which had a rifle containing a live round, a key ring with six shaved keys, and seven bottles of prescription medications belonging to others.