State v. Bradford

417 P.3d 530, 290 Or. App. 889
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 21, 2018
DocketA160793
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 417 P.3d 530 (State v. Bradford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bradford, 417 P.3d 530, 290 Or. App. 889 (Or. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

SHORR, J.

*532*890Defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for possession of a loaded firearm in a public place, Portland City Code (PCC) 14A.60.010.1 On appeal, defendant assigns error to the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence found by a police officer after he stopped and searched defendant without a warrant. Defendant contends that the trial court erred when it concluded that the officer had reasonable suspicion to stop defendant and that the search was justified under the officer-safety exception to the Article I, section 9, warrant requirement of the Oregon Constitution. We conclude that, under the totality of the circumstances, the officer had an objectively reasonable suspicion that defendant had discarded a firearm in the immediate vicinity to sufficiently support an investigatory stop. Further, we conclude that officer-safety concerns justified seizing defendant, patting him down, and handcuffing and securing him in the back of a police car while the officer searched the area where the officer believed that defendant had recently discarded a firearm. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court did not err when it denied defendant's motion to suppress.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

We begin with the factual standard of review applicable on appeal from a decision on a motion to suppress evidence. We are bound by the trial court's findings of historical fact if they are supported by constitutionally sufficient evidence. State v. Vasquez-Villagomez , 346 Or. 12, 23, 203 P.3d 193 (2009). Further, "[i]n the absence of express factual findings, we presume that the trial court decided the disputed facts in keeping with its ultimate conclusion." State v. Garcia , 276 Or. App. 838, 839, 370 P.3d 512 (2016). With that standard in mind, we recite the following facts.

*891Portland Police Officers Hughes and Ables were responding to an anonymous tip regarding a gathering of "Crip gang members" at Pier Park in Portland. The officers were both part of the Portland Police Bureau's gang-enforcement team, and were specially trained to "enforce firearm and other related laws related to gang activity." When the officers arrived at the park, they saw several cars leaving the area. One, a Buick, failed to completely stop at a stop sign. Based on that infraction, Hughes and Ables began to follow the Buick in their police car to conduct a traffic stop. The officers briefly lost sight of the Buick after it turned down another street. As the officers drove down that street, Hughes, who was in the passenger seat, spotted the Buick parked on the street. Ables, who was driving the police car, drove past the Buick and then turned around and drove back to where the Buick was parked.

The moment the officers reached the Buick, Ables saw the passenger, defendant in this case, run from the Buick up the driveway of the house in front of which the Buick was parked. The driveway was dark and ended at a fence, beyond which was a side *533yard adjacent to the house. Hughes got out of the car and walked toward the driveway while Ables engaged with the driver of the Buick. Ables shined the patrol car's spotlight down the driveway, which illuminated the driveway and allowed Hughes to recognize defendant. As Hughes approached the driveway, he saw defendant, who had just run up the driveway, casually walk back down the driveway toward Hughes. Based on prior contacts with defendant in Hughes's capacity as a member of the gang-enforcement team, Hughes recognized defendant as a documented "gang member."2 Hughes also knew that defendant had been shot several times in the past in connection with gang activities. Based on his experience investigating gang activities, Hughes was aware that individuals associated with violent criminal gangs frequently carried weapons, including "firearms, knives, [and] brass knuckles," *892and that such individuals who had been shot in the past were even more likely to be armed.

Based on his personal observations of defendant's behavior and his training and experience, Hughes found it suspicious that defendant had fled up the driveway only to return a moment later and suspected that defendant had disposed of a firearm, or perhaps other contraband, at the end of the driveway. To investigate that suspicion, Hughes decided to stop and question defendant. Hughes ordered defendant to put his hands on his head. Defendant held his hands out at his side but kept coming toward Hughes and repeatedly told Hughes that he was "scared" and "wanted to leave." Defendant attempted to walk around Hughes, but Hughes grabbed defendant's arms and put defendant's hands on his head. Defendant attempted to pull his hands apart and struggled with Hughes for approximately 30 seconds, at which point Hughes pinned defendant against the Buick, handcuffed him, and frisked him for weapons.

Hughes did not find any weapons on defendant as a result of the frisk, but he remained concerned that defendant had discarded a firearm within a short distance of the officers. Concerned for officer safety, Hughes placed defendant in the back of the police car, read him his Miranda rights, and questioned him about why he had run up the driveway when the police arrived. Defendant explained that he had discarded a gun by the fence at the end of the driveway. Hughes went to search the end of the driveway and left defendant handcuffed in the police car. Hughes quickly found a loaded handgun by the fence in the area indicated by defendant. Hughes confirmed that the gun belonged to defendant and then arrested defendant for carrying the gun without the requisite permit.

The state charged defendant with unlawful possession of a concealed firearm, ORS 166.250(1)(a) ; unlawful possession of a firearm concealed and readily accessible in a vehicle, ORS 166.250(1)(b) ; and unlawful possession of a loaded firearm in a public place, PCC 14A.60.010. Before trial, defendant moved to suppress the handgun as evidence. At the suppression hearing, the trial court denied defendant's motion from the bench. The court concluded that *893Hughes had reasonable suspicion to stop defendant based on Hughes's training and experience with gang members and defendant's "highly unusual behavior" immediately preceding his encounter with Hughes.

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Related

State v. Brown
508 P.3d 45 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2022)
State v. Lora
492 P.3d 757 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2021)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
417 P.3d 530, 290 Or. App. 889, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bradford-orctapp-2018.