Beckley v. Glenn R.

Opinion

SHOEMAKER, P. J. A petition alleging Glenn Ratcliff to be a person described in Welfare and Institutions Code, section 602, in that he was a minor and had possessed marijuana, was filed with the juvenile court. A referee held a hearing and found the allegations of the petition to be true, and made Ratcliff a ward of the court. A rehearing was granted on the ground that the proceedings before the referee were not taken down by an official reporter. (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 558.) A hearing was held before the court and the findings and order of the referee were upheld. Ratcliff appeals.

[560]The facts are without dispute. At approximately 9:20 p.m. Deputy Masschar of the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Department had occasion to stop at a gas station in East Palo Alto for the purpose of using the men’s restroom. Masschar was on patrol duty at the time and was in uniform. He went to the restroom and attempted to open the door. He was able to open the door only a couple of inches before he encountered resistance caused by someone pushing against the door from within. Masschar was startled and pushed against the door with greater force. He heard a voice from within the restroom ask “What do you want?” or “Who is it?” He then succeeded in pushing the door open and found Ratcliff, a 16-year-old boy, in the restroom. Masschar entered the restroom and observed that Ratcliff was keeping his right side turned from the officer’s view and appeared to have his right hand in his jacket pocket. Masschar asked him why he had been keeping the restroom door shut, and Ratcliff replied, “Nothing.” He then stated that he wanted to use the bathroom. When Masschar asked him what he had on his right that he was trying to conceal, Ratcliff replied, “Nothing.” He continued to keep his right side turned away from the officer and backed toward the toilet. Masschar then became apprehensive that Ratcliff was concealing some kind of weapon. According to Masschar, it was not uncommon in the East Palo Alto area to encounter young men with weapons, and he was concerned for his own safety and had a “sneaky hunch” that Ratcliff had a weapon. He asked Ratcliff to show what he had in his pocket, but he did not comply. Masschar then pulled Ratcliff’s right hand out of his jacket pocket, reached inside the pocket himself and found some zig zag papers but no weapon of any kind. Ratcliff continued to keep his right hand clenched in a fist after it had been pulled out of his pocket, and Masschar asked him to open it; Ratcliff refused and Masschar forced his hand open and found that Ratcliff was holding a small wax paper package containing a usable quantity of marijuana. Ratcliff also had a marijuana, cigarette in his hand. Masschar then conducted a pat search for weapons and placed him under arrest.