Officer’s momentary possession of a driver’s license to run a check by handheld radio was not a seizure

A police officer encountered defendant and asked for identification the information from which he called in and handed back to the defendant. That did not escalate the encounter into a seizure under the Fourth Amendment. State v. Adams, 2007 UT App 117, 158 P.3d 1134, 575 Utah Adv. Rep. 12 (2007):

The present case is similar to United States v. Analla, 975 F.2d 119 (4th Cir. 1992), in which the Fourth Circuit held that a defendant was not seized for purposes of the Fourth Amendment where the investigating officer did not take the license over to the squad car to run the warrants check. See id. at 124. Instead, the officer “stood beside the car, near where [the defendant] was standing, and used his walkie-talkie” to contact the dispatcher. Id. This circumstance, among others, resulted in the determination that the consensual encounter did not escalate into a level two seizure. See id. Thus, in this case, Patrick’s momentary use of Adams’s identification for a warrants check does not compel the conclusion that a level two seizure occurred, especially because Patrick did not hold onto the identification any longer than was necessary. Cf. Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 501-02, 103 S. Ct. 1319, 75 L. Ed. 2d 229 (1983) (plurality opinion) (holding that police acted permissibly in approaching airline traveler and asking for identification, but when police retained traveler’s documentation while asking him to accompany them to a separate room for questioning, police illegally seized traveler); People v. Jackson, 39 P.3d 1174, 1188 (Colo. 2002) (collecting cases and noting that numerous federal and state courts have recognized that “whether an officer retains a defendant’s identification is a critical factor in distinguishing, under the totality of the circumstances, a consensual encounter from an investigatory stop” (emphasis added)).

Defendant’s arrest was without probable cause because there was insufficient justification to connect him to drugs for even constructive possession. State v. Chavez, 138 Wn. App. 29, 156 P.3d 246 (2007).

Quality of CI’s information was not argued to the trial court, so it could not be argued on appeal. Reyes v. State, 952 So. 2d 1262 (Fla. App. 2d Dist. 2007).*

Trial court erred in granting defendant’s motion to suppress for stop after he “almost” hit an officer pulling away from the curb. The stop had justification and was reasonable. Lewis v. State, 398 Md. 349, 920 A.2d 1080 (2007).*