People v. Smith

Opinion

BEACH, J. Defendant was charged by information with possession of cocaine. He successfully moved in the superior court for dismissal of the information. This appeal by the People followed. We reverse.

Facts:

In the early morning hours on August 28, 1979, Officer Baker of the Los Angeles Police Department, assigned to the Van Nuys division, was on duty in a marked police vehicle on Ventura Boulevard near Firmament Avenue. With him was another officer. Both were in uniform.

In the past two months, the police had received numerous complaints about prowlers and attempted break-ins at the apartments of single women in the area just described. That very evening at roll call the officers had been told that in the area in question a male Caucasian had 10 days earlier forced a woman into her vehicle where he attempted to rape her. After roll call, at 12:31 in the morning, Officer Baker personally checked out a report about an attempted rape in the neighborhood. The woman described the suspect as a male Caucasian in his mid twenties, with brown hair.

[286]Thereafter, at 4:30 in the morning, while continuing his patrol of the neighborhood, Officer Baker’s attention was drawn to a late-model, four-door Chevrolet automobile which had its interior lights on and was parked on Firmament Avenue near Ventura Boulevard next to a closed gas station. A small pickup truck with a camper shell was parked in front of the passenger car. The passenger car contained two persons: a black woman in the driver’s seat and a male Caucasian (defendant) in the passenger seat. As the police vehicle passed the intersection, Officer Baker saw defendant look at the vehicle, hurriedly leave the passenger car, and head towards the pickup truck. The fact that defendant appeared to fit the description of the suspect involved in the attempted rape of a woman in her car in that neighborhood, and the fact that in this instance defendant was seen in a car with a woman at such an unusually early hour, together with defendant’s hurried exit from the woman’s car when the police vehicle drove by, aroused Officer Baker’s suspicion. So he and his partner turned back to investigate. By that time, defendant was standing at the open passenger door of the pickup truck. Officer Baker approached him while his partner went to talk to the woman in the passenger car.

Officer Baker asked defendant for identification. Defendant showed the officer a frayed temporary California driver’s license. Noticing that the license had long since expired, the officer asked for additional identification. Defendant then showed a triple A membership card. Suddenly defendant “spun around,” jumped into the pickup truck through the open passenger door, bent over, and placed his right arm underneath the passenger seat. Taken by surprise, and fearing that defendant was reaching for a weapon, the officer drew his service revolver and ordered defendant out of the truck with his hands in plain sight. Defendant failed to comply. Officer Baker repeated his order to exit the truck. Again defendant ignored the order. When defendant stuck his arm underneath the driver’s seat, the officer yelled at defendant to come out and keep his hands in plain sight. Defendant, however, paid no heed. At that point, Officer Baker’s partner grabbed defendant by the left arm and pulled him out of the truck. As he was doing that, Officer Baker saw defendant use his right hand to throw some white objects resembling pieces of paper or credit cards into the open camper shell. After defendant’s removal from the truck, Officer Baker conducted a pat-down search, handcuffed defendant, and retrieved the objects which defendant had thrown into the camper. They turned out to be a syringe and two “bindles” or small paper packets marked with a snow flake against a blue background and the words “sno seals.” Having seen