Com. v. Patterson, T.

2023 Pa. Super. 228, 304 A.3d 1245
Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided November 7, 2023·No. 376 MDA 2023·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

2023 PA Super 228

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA

:

v. :

:

:

TERRY ALLEN PATTERSON :

:

Appellant : No. 376 MDA 2023

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered February 6, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-36-CR-0004889-2021

BEFORE: MURRAY, J., KING, J., and COLINS, J.* OPINION BY COLINS, J.: FILED: NOVEMBER 7, 2023 Appellant, Terry Allen Patterson, appeals from the judgments of sentence imposed by the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County after it found him guilty of possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver, knowingly possessing a controlled substance, driving under the influence (DUI), and of violating the Motor Vehicle Code prohibition against driving with a suspended license for a prior DUI.1 The sole issue on appeal is the trial court’s ruling that the initial seizure was lawful under the public servant

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

1 35 P.S. § 780-113(a)(30); 35 P.S. § 780-113(a)(16); 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(d)(2); and 75 Pa.C.S. § 1543(b)(1)(i), respectively.

exception to the warrant requirement where appellant’s car partially blocked the left lane of a limited access highway. After careful review, we affirm.

The suppression hearing was held on June 13, 2022, with a single witness, Sergeant Adam Shope, a nine-year veteran of the Northwest Regional Police Department with specialized training and ample experience in recognizing when motorists are DUI. Trial Court Opinion, 2. In its written opinion, the trial court summarized its factual findings with respect to the initial stop as follows:

At approximately 8:18 p.m. on November 15, 2021, Sergeant Shope was on patrol traveling eastbound on Route 283 when he observed vehicles in the left lane merging into the right lane to avoid a vehicle stopped on the left shoulder of the highway.

Sergeant Shope observed a white Nissan Rogue parked on the left shoulder of Route 283 East, at mile marker 16.8 (referred to as the “Snyder’s Road overpass” at the evidentiary hearing and in memoranda), in a sixty-five miles-per-hour speed limited zone.

The Nissan was parked with its left tires near the edge of the highway's asphalt abutting the grass median and with its right tires well into the left lane of Route 283 East, blocking a significant portion of the lane. In response, Sergeant Shope activated his emergency lights, pulled up behind the vehicle, exited his vehicle, and approached the driver. Sergeant Shope both attested and testified that the basis for his initiating contact with the Defendant was to ascertain the Defendant’s well-being and render any necessary aid.

Trial Court Opinion, 2 (footnote omitted).

The Sergeant was not sure whether the car was disabled or why it was otherwise stopped in traffic. N.T. Suppression 6/13/23, 6, 35. Notably, he activated his emergency lights for both the safety of the stopped car and himself. Id. at 6-7. The trial court’s finding that the car blocked “a significant

portion” of the left travel lane was fully supported by the video evidence introduced at the suppression hearing:

Exhibit CW#1, In-Car-Video (Front): time 1:10.

Immediately upon speaking with Appellant, who was in the driver’s seat alone in the car, Sergeant Shope recognized the blank stare, confusion, disorientation, and sluggish movements of a person under the influence. Appellant was unable to answer simple questions, including why he had parked the car as he had. Sergeant Shope directed him to exit and stand by the front of the patrol car. The officer ran Appellant’s information, and learned he was driving with a suspended license from a prior DUI. While continuing to speak with him, Sergeant Shope made additional observations that supported his belief Appellant was operating the car while impaired. A second officer arrived at the scene, and saw a wet cigarette inside the car, which he

recognized to be consistent with the use of phencyclidine (PCP). Upon a search of Appellant incident to arrest, Sergeant Shope discovered a large amount of cash and a baggie containing 11 separate packets of crack cocaine and another baggie of cocaine powder. A subsequent blood test revealed there was PCP in Appellant’s system. Trial Court Opinion, 3-4.

Appellant moved to suppress the physical evidence recovered. He specifically alleged that the initial detention, when the officer pulled in behind his stopped car with emergency lights activated, was without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. In addition to Sergeant Shope’s testimony, video evidence from the patrol car and body cameras was introduced at the suppression hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court granted Appellant’s request to file a brief. On November 2, 2022, the court denied suppression, and listed the matter for trial.

The trial court filed its opinion addressing the suppression claim pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 581(I) on November 7, 2022. It held that Sergeant Shope initiated a detention when he pulled his patrol car behind Appellant’s parked car on the highway with the emergency lights activated. It agreed with appellant that Sergeant Shope neither had probable cause of a Motor Vehicle Code violation nor reasonable suspicion of criminal activity at that point in

time. Trial Court Opinion, 7.2 Nonetheless, the court ruled that under the

2 The trial court declined to consider whether Sergeant Shope had probable

cause of a violation of the Motor Vehicle Code prohibition on standing or (Footnote Continued Next Page)

public servant exception of the community caretaking doctrine the seizure was lawful. Relying on Commonwealth v. Livingstone, 174 A.3d 609 (Pa. 2017), the trial court held that “Sergeant Shope was able to articulate specific objective facts that reasonably suggested his assistance was needed to mitigate peril.” Trial Court Opinion, 11.

On February 6, 2023, after a colloquy, Appellant waived a jury trial. The bench trial was conducted by the same judge who ruled on the suppression

parking a car on “a limited access highway unless authorized by official trafficcontrol devices.” 75 Pa.C.S. § 3353(a)(2)(vii). It ruled that the Commonwealth’s reliance on a violation of that section was an “after-the-fact justification […] for the stop rather than its genesis.” Trial Court Opinion, 7. Because we have determined that the stop was lawful under the public servant exception of the community caretaking doctrine, we will not address the Commonwealth’s argument that probable cause for a Motor Vehicle Code violation also existed at the moment of seizure (see Brief for Appellee, 15- 18). We note that, in general, probable cause exists where the totality of the circumstances shows that “the facts and circumstances within the police officer’s knowledge and of which the officer has reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient in themselves to warrant a person of reasonable caution in the belief that an offense has been committed by the person to be arrested.” Commonwealth v. Simmen, 58 A.3d 811, 817 (Pa. Super. 2012). The officer’s subjective intent “play[s] no role in ordinary, probable-cause Fourth Amendment analysis.” Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 813 (1996). All that matters is that the officer’s conduct was objectively reasonable, i.e., a reasonable person in the officer’s position would have believed that he had probable cause. Id. “[T]he fact that the officer does not have the state of mind which is hypothecated by the reasons which provide the legal justification for the officer’s action does not invalidate the action taken as long as the circumstances, viewed objectively, justify that action.” Scott v. United States, 436 U.S. 128, 138 (1978).

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Com. v. Patterson, T., 2023 Pa. Super. 228, 304 A.3d 1245 (Pa. Ct. App. 2023).

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