FL2: Order to truant to empty pockets was a full search that was unreasonable here

While an officer can patdown a truant before putting him in the police car, a full search is unauthorized without probable cause. Order to empty pockets was a full search. R.A.S. v. State, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 9575 (Fla. 2d DCA June 25, 2014):

It is also the case that an officer may conduct a pat-down for weapons before placing a truant in his vehicle, but he is not authorized to conduct a full search. See id.; L.C., 23 So. 3d at 1219 (“Although we appreciate the concern of officer safety, we are aware of no case that stands for the proposition officers can search an individual without having performed a pat-down simply because the individual is being placed in a police vehicle.”); Op. Att’y Gen. Fla. 11-08 (2011) (stating that when an officer has taken a juvenile into custody pursuant to section 984.13, the officer “may perform a limited frisk or pat-down for weapons before placing the minor in a law enforcement vehicle”).

By directing R.A.S. to empty his pockets, the deputy essentially conducted an unauthorized full search. Cf. E.B. v. State, 866 So. 2d 200, 203 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004) (citing Sanders v. State, 732 So. 2d 20, 21 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999), for the proposition that a pat-down does not include a search into a detainee’s pockets). Ordering someone to remove items from his pockets has the same legal effect as an officer actually reaching into the pockets to search. Sanders, 732 So. 2d at 21. The deputy did not have a reason to think that R.A.S. was carrying a weapon or contraband. Thus, the initial search had no legal basis.

When R.A.S. did not remove the contents of his back pocket, the deputy asked for and obtained the youth’s consent to conduct a pat-down search of that pocket. But the illegal search had already tainted his consent and rendered any evidence discovered as “fruit of the poisonous tree.” See Grant v. State, 978 So. 2d 862, 863 (Fla. 2d DCA 2008) (citing Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 488, 83 S. Ct. 407, 9 L. Ed. 2d 441 (1963)).