People v. McVey

541 N.E.2d 835, 185 Ill. App. 3d 536, 133 Ill. Dec. 624, 1989 Ill. App. LEXIS 1067
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 13, 1989
Docket3-88-0704
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 541 N.E.2d 835 (People v. McVey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. McVey, 541 N.E.2d 835, 185 Ill. App. 3d 536, 133 Ill. Dec. 624, 1989 Ill. App. LEXIS 1067 (Ill. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

JUSTICE SCOTT

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Michael B. McVey, was charged by uniform citation and complaint with driving while his license was revoked (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 951k, par. 6 — 303(a)). Prior to trial, he filed a motion to quash the warrantless arrest and to suppress the evidence. Following a hearing, the trial court granted his motion. The State appeals.

At the hearing on the motion, Tiskilwa police officer Richard Taylor testified that on September 23, 1988, at about 11:45 p.m., he was riding his bicycle through Tiskilwa Park. He noticed two people sitting on a park bench and advised them to leave the park since it closed at 11 p.m. He stated that the two people were violating a village ordinance by remaining in the park after it closed. He further stated that as he continued riding by, he heard a female yell something at him. Thereafter, he observed the two people get into a red car and drive out of the park. He noticed that after the car left the park it pulled off onto the side of the road near the post office.

Officer Taylor then rode his bike home, got into his squad car, and returned to identify the two people, who were still in the red car parked near the post office. Taylor pulled up behind the car and stopped without activating his squad car’s mars lights. As he was about to exit his vehicle, the passenger in the red car, Denise Harris, got out and asked Taylor if there was a problem. Taylor testified that he knew Denise personally. Taylor told Denise that he was checking to see who was in the car and why they were sitting there. Denise responded that the other person in the car was a friend of hers from California and they were just talking.

The defendant then got out of the car and asked Taylor if there was a problem. Taylor asked the defendant if he had any form of identification. The defendant gave the officer a California driver’s license. Taylor testified that he then told the defendant to go back to his vehicle and have a seat, because he was going to run a computer check of the defendant’s license. The license check revealed that the defendant had a valid California license and a revoked Illinois license. Taylor then placed the defendant under arrest for driving with a revoked license.

The defendant testified that at about 11:05 p.m. on the night in question he was sitting and talking with his girlfriend, Denise, in Tiskilwa Park. He stated that Taylor rode by on his bicycle and told them that the park closed at 11 p.m. and that they should leave. Denise told Taylor not to bother them. She and the defendant then got into a car and drove two blocks out of the park. They parked on the side of the road, where they continued talking. About 15 minutes later, a squad car pulled up behind them. According to the defendant, Denise got out of the car and talked to the officer. Shortly thereafter, the defendant got out of the car and asked the officer if there was a problem. The officer asked the defendant for his driver’s license. The defendant testified that he told the officer that he was a resident of California and handed him a valid California driver’s license. After running a computer check, the officer arrested the defendant for driving with a revoked license.

The trial judge found that the officer had had no reason to ask the defendant for his driver’s license. On appeal, the State contends that the trial court erred in granting the defendant’s motion. Specifically, the State argues that the encounter between the defendant and the police officer was not a “seizure” within the meaning of the fourth amendment. In the alternative, the State contends that, if there was a seizure, it was justified pursuant to a valid Terry stop that subsequently developed into an arrest supported by probable cause.

Initially, we note that not all personal intercourse between policemen and citizens involves a seizure so as to implicate the fourth amendment. (People v. Fenton (1988), 125 Ill. 2d 343, 532 N.E.2d 228.) Only when the officer, by means of physical force or show of authority, has in some way restrained the liberty of a citizen may we conclude that a seizure has occurred. (Michigan v. Chesternut (1988), 486 U.S. 567, 100 L. Ed. 2d 565, 108 S. Ct. 1975.) Police do not seize a person by merely approaching him in a public place and asking him questions. (Florida v. Royer (1983), 460 U.S. 491, 75 L. Ed. 2d 229, 103 S. Ct. 1319; People v. Alcantara (1989), 179 Ill. App. 3d 105, 534 N.E.2d 405.) The test employed to determine if an individual has been seized is whether, in view of all the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave. (Michigan v. Chesternut (1988), 486 U.S. 567, 100 L. Ed. 2d 565, 108 S. Ct. 1975.) A police officer seeking to justify an intrusion of a person’s freedom to walk away “must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant that intrusion.” (Terry v. Ohio (1968), 392 U.S. 1, 21, 20 L. Ed. 2d 889, 906, 88 S. Ct. 1868, 1880.) This principle has been codified in Illinois. Section 107 — 14 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 provides that a peace officer may stop a person in a public place when the officer reasonably infers from the circumstances that the person is committing, is about to commit, or has committed an offense. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 107 — 14.) A reviewing court will not disturb a trial court’s finding in a hearing on a motion to suppress unless the trial court’s finding was manifestly erroneous. People v. Long (1983), 99 Ill. 2d 219, 457 N.E.2d 1252.

Turning to the instant case, we must first determine at what point in time the defendant was “seized” within the meaning of the fourth amendment and, more specifically, Terry v. Ohio. We note that in the case at bar Officer Taylor merely pulled up behind the defendant, without activating his lights or siren. The defendant then approached the officer and a conversation ensued. The officer requested the defendant’s driver's license and the defendant handed him an apparently valid California driver’s license. At that point, a seizure had not yet occurred. However, the officer proceeded a step further and ordered the defendant to have a seat in the defendant’s car while the officer ran a computer check on the defendant’s license. By then, the defendant could reasonably believe that he was no longer free to walk away. We therefore find that a seizure occurred when the officer required the defendant to return to his car while he ran a computer check.

We next turn to the question of whether the instant seizure was justified.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Rockey
752 N.E.2d 576 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2001)
People v. Smith
Appellate Court of Illinois, 2000
People v. Safunwa
701 N.E.2d 1202 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1998)
People v. Branch
Appellate Court of Illinois, 1998
People v. Bradley
Appellate Court of Illinois, 1997
People v. Sinclair
666 N.E.2d 1221 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1996)
People v. Arteaga
655 N.E.2d 290 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1995)
State v. Reynolds
868 P.2d 668 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1994)
People v. Cole
627 N.E.2d 1187 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1994)
State v. Godwin
826 P.2d 452 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1992)
People v. McKnight
555 N.E.2d 1196 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1990)
People v. Graves
553 N.E.2d 810 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
541 N.E.2d 835, 185 Ill. App. 3d 536, 133 Ill. Dec. 624, 1989 Ill. App. LEXIS 1067, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-mcvey-illappct-1989.