City of Pompano Beach v. Twomey

18 Fla. Supp. 2d 149
CourtCircuit Court for the Judicial Circuits of Florida
DecidedAugust 8, 1986
DocketCase No. 85-0076 AC
StatusPublished

This text of 18 Fla. Supp. 2d 149 (City of Pompano Beach v. Twomey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Circuit Court for the Judicial Circuits of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
City of Pompano Beach v. Twomey, 18 Fla. Supp. 2d 149 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1986).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

J. LEONARD FLEET, Circuit Judge.

Appellant seeks review of the granting by the County Court of Appellee’s Motion to Dismiss. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to Article V of the Constitution of the State of Florida.

Responding to an anonymous report that there was a suspicious automobile, possibly occupied, parked in a parking lot of an apartment [150]*150complex, Pompano Beach police officer Wayne A. Price arrived at the scene, for the purpose of an investigation, at approximately 6:00 A.M. on March 22, 1985. When he looked into the vehicle in question, Officer Price observed Appellee to be inside, apparently sleeping. The motor of the vehicle was off but the lights were on.

Officer Price managed to awaken Appellee by knocking on the window several times. After first asserting that he was unable to lock the door of the car in response to the request of Officer Price, Appellee finally cooperated and exited the vehicle. The odor of alcohol emanating from the person of the Appellee and from the interior of the vehicle was strong. Officer Price observed several empty beer cans on the floor of the vehicle (the record does not indicate where the keys to the vehicle were located).

The Appellee’s willingness to cooperate apparently evaporated as quickly as the odor of the impurities normally associated with alcoholic beverages wafted from on and about his person. Appellee refused to give his name to Officer Price and attempted to leave. Officer Price then advised Appellee he was under arrest (for what is not made entirely clear in the record by either counsel). As was predictable, Appellee didn’t take too kindly to the idea of being put under police restraint for any reason whatsoever; he began to struggle when Officer Price attempted to handcuff him. During the physical altercation, according to Appellant, Office Price, “. . . was forced to take the Appellee to the ground in order to handcuff him.” (A nice euphemism if ever the Court saw one!) Ultimately, the force of law prevailed over the Appellee’s feeble attempts at self help (a time honored concept when one lives according to the “Code of the Hills” but not much appreciated in modern, urban society) and he was taken into custody.

At the time of his booking, which occurred at 6:15 A.M., Appellee was accused of violating three municipal ordinances of the City of Pompano Beach, viz. Section 133.11, Public Intoxication; Section 132.24, Sleeping in Vehicle; Section 132.21 Resisting Arrest Without Violence. On March 28,1985, Appellant’s counsel, acting as city prosecutor in County Court, filed a document entitled “Municipal Information” charging Appellee with the commission of acts which allegedly violated the aforesaid municipal ordinances.

In due course of events, Appellee was arraigned and, on July 2, 1985, and July 8, 1985, respectively, the clerk of the court below received a Motion to Discharge and a Motion to Dismiss; the former document was predicated upon an alleged violation of the speedy trial rule as it then existed and the latter is set out below. Appellant’s [151]*151response to the Motion to Dismiss filed by Appellee was delivered to the clerk below on August 6, 1985. On August 8, 1985, the trial judge entered an order granting Appellee’s Motion to Dismiss.

An orderly review of the problems presented to this Court, sitting in its appellate capacity, requires that Appellee’s Motion to Dismiss be set out in haec verbae with the formal portions thereof omitted:

Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss

Defendant, BRIAN T. TWOMEY, moves this Honorable Court to dismiss the charges against him and in support thereof states the following:

1. On March 22, 1985, a Complaint was filed against Defendant under Municipal Ordinance 132.24 for sleeping in a vehicle.

2. On August 8, 1984, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in City of Pompano Beach vs. Capalbo, 455 So. 2d 468 (1984), found this ordinance to be unconstitutionally vague and overbroad.

3. In so ruling, the appellate court ruled that the ordinance placed too much discretion in the police officer whether or not to arrest one asleep in a motor vehicle on a public street or way or in a parking lot. It further stated that the “ordinance criminalizes conduct which is beyond the reach of the city’s police power inasmuch as (1) conduct (sic) ‘in no way impinges on the rights or interests of others.’ ” City of Pompano Beach at p. 470.

4. This case is exactly an example of the criminalizing of conduct that in no way impinges on (sic) the rights or interests of others. Defendant was asleep in a vehicle in a parking space in front of his home. The parking space was a private space of the development in which he resides. The vehicle belonged to a member of the household in which he lives.

5. Further, Defendant was charged with inconsistent charges, specifically: sleeping in a vehicle and being intoxicated in violation of Municipal Ordinance 133.11(b) and sleeping in a vehicle in violation of Municipal Ordinance 132.24. A review of the elements of both statutes indicates that Defendant could not have been in violation of both ordinances at the same time.

6. Fla. Stat. Section 901.17 provides that a peace officer making an arrest without a warrant shall inform the person to be arrested of his authority and the cause of arrest except when the person flees or forcibly resists before the officer has an opportunity to inform him or when giving the information will imperil the arrest. At no time, [152]*152despite Defendant’s repeated requests, did any of the peace officers involved inform Defendant of what (sic) he was being arrested.

7. This, taken with the fact that Defendant was then charged with an unconstitutional municipal ordinance, negates the charge of resisting arrest without violence under Municipal Ordinance 132.21.

8. Every person has a right to resist an unlawful arrest and may use such reasonable force, proportioned to the injury attempted upon him, as is necessary to effect his escape. See Lee v. State, 368 So.2d 395 (1st DCA 1978); Burgess v. State, 313 So.2d 479 (1975).

9. Defendant has the right to resist this unlawful arrest, unlawful in two respects: a) The peace officers failed to inform him of the nature of his offense and b) his arrest was for an unconstitutional municipal ordinance.

WHEREFORE, Defendant moves this Court to dismiss the charges against him for the foregoing reasons and such other relief as the Court may deem necessary and proper.

/s/Brian T. Twomey

BEFORE ME, the undersigned authority came BRIAN T. TWOMEY, who being duly sworn, deposes and says that he has read the foregoing pleading and the allegations contained therein are true and correct to his best knowledge and belief.

/s/ NOTARY PUBLIC

State of Florida

My Commission Expires: 12-14-87

The written response of the Appellant to the Motion to Dismiss (which is all that Appellant chose to submit to this court by way of the Record on Appeal), in haec verbae, formal parts omitted, reads as follows:

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Fox v. State
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State v. Wall
445 So. 2d 646 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1984)
Suiero v. State
248 So. 2d 219 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1971)
City of Pompano Beach v. Capalbo
455 So. 2d 468 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1984)
Rosenberg v. State
264 So. 2d 68 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1972)
State v. Barber
301 So. 2d 7 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1974)
State v. Hamlin
306 So. 2d 150 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1975)
Lee v. State
368 So. 2d 395 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1979)
Ellis v. State
346 So. 2d 1044 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1977)
Burgess v. State
313 So. 2d 479 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1975)
Kassel v. State
382 So. 2d 1354 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1980)
McCarthy v. State
417 So. 2d 1153 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1982)
State v. Moore
423 So. 2d 1010 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1982)
State v. Patlon
443 So. 2d 346 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1983)
East v. Texas
474 U.S. 1000 (Supreme Court, 1985)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
18 Fla. Supp. 2d 149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-pompano-beach-v-twomey-flacirct-1986.