State v. Harrison

156 N.W.2d 763, 279 Minn. 310, 1968 Minn. LEXIS 1197
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedFebruary 23, 1968
Docket40361
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 156 N.W.2d 763 (State v. Harrison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Harrison, 156 N.W.2d 763, 279 Minn. 310, 1968 Minn. LEXIS 1197 (Mich. 1968).

Opinion

Nelson, Justice.

Appeal from a judgment of conviction entered pursuant to finding defendant, Joseph Harrison, guilty of aggravated assault in violation of Minn. St. 609.225, subd. 2.

The facts upon which the jury found defendant guilty are: On August 4, 1965, at about 3:15 a. m., Officer Gaylord Gladwin of the Narcotics Squad, Minneapolis Police Department, was driving south on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. Officer Gladwin was at that time dressed in civilian clothes and driving a private car. As he approached the middle of the block on Nicollet between 12th and 13th Streets, he observed a 1955 or 1957 red and white Pontiac traveling in the opposite direction. The car was occupied by two men, the driver, a light-complexioned Negro male with long hair, and a rider, a white male with blond hair. The two cars passed within 3 or 4 feet of each other and Officer Gladwin saw the driver whom he later identified as defendant. When the cars passed, both were traveling at relatively slow speeds. Officer Gladwin first clearly saw the features of the driver, defendant herein, when he was at a point about 10 or 15 feet from the vehicle. At the time in question, there was daytime lighting in the area from fluorescent street lights.

Officer Gladwin also observed that defendant’s vehicle was trail *312 ing a young lady walking down the sidewalk and was moving parallel to her. When the girl and defendant’s vehicle reached the corner of 12th and Nicollet and turned west, Officer Gladwin drove to 13th and Nicollet, quickly circled the block, and was parked in the middle of the block when defendant’s car and the girl again came into view. The occupants of the Pontiac had not changed positions from when Officer Gladwin first saw them on Nicollet Avenue. With his lights out, Officer Gladwin followed them down 12th Street to the intersection of 12th and Yale Place, where the girl started to cross the street. At that time defendant’s car was driven into the crosswalk, preventing the girl from crossing and forcing her to walk out around the vehicle to get across the street. Upon crossing the street, she began to run. At that time, Officer Gladwin’s car was about 45 yards away from defendant’s car and there was sufficient lighting to see quite well.

As the girl began to run down the street, Officer Gladwin heard a crack sound which appeared to be the noise of a small-caliber weapon. He also noticed at the time what appeared to be a rifle extending out the right side of defendant’s car. After hearing the crack sound, Officer Gladwin focused on defendant’s vehicle and, looking through the window, he saw the weapon being brought in the window by the passenger, being handed to defendant, and then being extended out of the left side of the vehicle by defendant.

The weapon was turned in the direction of Officer Gladwin’s car, and he heard a second crack sound. Just prior to the sound, Officer Gladwin observed a small portion of defendant’s left arm and hand extending out of the window holding the weapon. The position of the hands and the sound of the crack indicated to Officer Gladwin that the weapon was a rifle as opposed to a pistol and was of a small caliber. Based on his prior observations, Officer Gladwin knew that defendant was the person who fired the shot at him. When the second shot was fired, Officer Gladwin was looking through the windows of his car at the defendant’s vehicle, and there were no objects or protrusions within his line of sight.

After the second shot had been fired, Officer Gladwin called the *313 police dispatcher on a portable radio and reported the incident. While he was so engaged, defendant’s vehicle started to leave the scene and Officer Gladwin gave chase, but defendant successfully eluded him.

Later the same morning when Officer Gladwin finished his tour of duty, he recorded this incident in the daily motor patrol log. Subsequently, he made out an offense report relating the details of the incident, which he also related to Detectives Eugene Wilson and Russell Krueger. Between August 4 and August 6, 1965, a memorandum was put out by the Minneapolis Police Department stating in substance that the occupants of a certain pink and white 1958 or 1959 Pontiac hardtop, who were either Negroes or Indians, or one white male, shot at a police officer and were wanted for suspicion of assault. Subsequently, on August 10, 1965, a second memorandum was issued by the police department regarding the same incident. That memorandum in substance identified defendant as Joseph Harrison, gave the license number of the automobile, the description of the automobile, two addresses where defendant might possibly be, and stated that defendant was suspected of assaulting Officer Gladwin.

The second memorandum was read by Police Sergeant Leonard Brucciani on August 14, 1965, at the 11:40 p. m. roll call of the night shift. That same night, Sergeant Brucciani and his partner, Officer Arthur L. Eisner, while transporting some people in the Minneapolis loop, crossed the intersection of 11th Street and Marquette Avenue going north at approximately 2:45 a. m. They observed a car on their right waiting for a semaphore — a pink and white 1957 Pontiac. The officers made a “U-tum” and came back and followed the car as it turned left off 11th Street onto Nicollet Avenue going south. The officers radioed for other police cars to join them and to assist in apprehending this vehicle. They then followed the car to Grant and Nicollet where it made a turn and went west to LaSalle Avenue, then south on LaSalle. Finally as other police cars joined them the officers stopped the vehicle at approximately 1525 LaSalle Avenue.

Sergeant Brucciani alighted from the squad car and walked to the passenger’s side of the vehicle, while two other uniformed officers approached the driver’s side. The officers asked the driver, defendant *314 herein, for his driver’s license, at which time defendant stepped out of ’the car. As he did so, the interior light of the car came on, and at the same time Sergeant Brucciani put his flashlight in the car and observed something black sticking out under the seat on the passenger’s side. Upon seeing this black object, Officer Brucciani exclaimed, “What’s this?” and the passenger opened the car door. The officer then reached down and picked up the object that extended from the seat. At that time the passenger turned in his seat, and as he did so, Sergeant Brucciani noticed the butt of an automatic pistol sticking out from the cushion where the back rest of the seat and the cushion met. He reached in and pulled the pistol out of the car. Sergeant Brucciani identified the driver as defendant and the passenger as Duane Edward Madson, whose name later turned out to be Duane Edward Mampel. At that time Sergeant Brucciani took the passenger in custody, handcuffed him, and gave orders to the other officers to do the same with defendant. After both men were handcuffed, they were searched and taken to the squad cars of the respective officers.

After the passenger was secured in Brucciani’s car, he went over to the squad car in which defendant had been placed and told defendant he was under arrest for a traffic violation and also for suspicion of assault and that his car was going to be towed in and searched. After speaking with defendant, Brucciani took the key from the ignition and opened the trunk of the car.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
156 N.W.2d 763, 279 Minn. 310, 1968 Minn. LEXIS 1197, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-harrison-minn-1968.