12-27-02

The Dog Manure Bandit

Matt Boswell had that holiday spirit after Christmas shopping last week in Frisco, Texas. Then he saw some stinking thief messing around in the back of his pickup truck outside the Stonebriar Centre mall.

“I yelled at him,” said Boswell, who watched the dirty dog haul two plastic bags from the truck to a waiting car and flee.

The Little Elm, Texas, resident didn't give chase or waste time calling police, however.

First, the loss was a mere drop in the bucket.

Second, this is the season of sharing, a time for surprises.

“I sure wish I could have been there when he opened the bags,” said Boswell, owner of a pet waste-removal company.

Those gift bags together contained about 25 pounds of leftovers from Texans' lawns in Irving and North Dallas.

“I just couldn't stop laughing,” said Boswell, who had parked in the open so people, including thieves, could read the words painted on the sides of his truck.

“It's pretty obvious what we do,” he said. “It says we scoop poop.”

Boswell said he and his three employees weekly take in about a ton of dung.

And if the guys in the black, four-door sedan want some more, he said, “we have plenty where that came from.”

A petite 17-year-old, irate after seeing three men running from her home in the wee morning hours Tuesday, sprinted outdoors barefoot, clad in pajamas, outran one of the trespassers, tackled and straddled him, then hog-tied him with a rope until police arrived minutes later.

Melissa Alexander, a high school junior, said her training in track and running bases for the varsity softball team came in handy, as did her ability to handle horses, which she cares for at her family's property.

As a result of the young woman's efforts, 18-year-old Jason N. Burkett, 18, was apprehended, said German Twp. Police Chief W. Lew Wilcox.

Also arrested were Trestan B. Stamps, 18, and a 17-year-old juvenile.

The two 18-year-olds were charged with theft and criminal trespassing in Miamisburg Municipal Court.

Legal Issues - Search and Seizure

FRISK NOT JUSTIFIED BY REASONABLE BELIEF THAT SUSPECT WAS ARMED AND DANGEROUS.

Responding to a disturbance call at the defendant’s residence, a deputy found a door off its hinges and lying on the deck outside. The deputy entered without knocking or announcing himself, with his pistol drawn.

He found the defendant and the woman with whom he lived in the back bedroom. When the deputy entered the bedroom, he identified himself, pointed his weapon at the defendant, and ordered him to stand and face a wall.

There were no weapons in the room, other than the officer’s, and no contraband was in view. When he asked the woman if she was hurt, she replied, “No.” She also said nothing was wrong.

The deputy then holstered his weapon and began to search the defendant. He later testified that he “felt a large plastic bag, what I felt was a – at the time was a – something out of the ordinary, possibly marijuana in his pocket, in the left-hand front pocket.” The officer described the object as large and “kind of crumply.”

He pulled the bag partially out of the defendant’s pocket, identified it as marijuana, and then pushed it back into the pocket. The deputy had the defendant lie face down on the floor and handcuffed him.

A subsequent search of the residence uncovered a bag of marijuana in a cabinet, empty bags, a set of scales and a large amount of cash. The State petitioned to forfeit the money as drug proceeds, and the defendant moved to suppress the evidence

Holding: The officer in this case was justified in entering the defendant’s residence without a warrant because he could have reasonably believed that someone inside was in need of immediate help. An officer must have probable cause to believe that an emergency exists before such an entry is authorized, and in this case the officer satisfied that requirement.

Warrantless searches “are unreasonable per se under the Fourth Amendment, subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions.” One of these exceptions is for a patdown search, or frisk, of a person an officer believes is armed and dangerous.

Before conducting a frisk, the officer must be able to point to specific and articulable facts, together with rational inferences from those facts, that reasonably warrant the search

“The officer need not be absolutely certain that the individual is armed. The issue is whether a reasonable prudent person would justifiably believe that his safety or that of others was in danger.”

The deputy entered the defendant’s bedroom with his weapon drawn and placed the defendant in a position where he could do no harm. After determining that the woman was not hurt and nothing was wrong, he holstered his pistol before searching the defendant.

The officer did not testify that he saw any indication of a weapon, or that he thought the defendant was armed and dangerous, or that he believed his safety or anyone else’s was in danger. There were no “specific and articulable facts” to justify the frisk. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the defendant’s suppression motion.

COMMENT: This case is a somewhat indirect reminder that in “stop and frisk” cases, the frisk is not justified automatically by the stop. Just as reasonable suspicion must justify the stop, reason to believe the suspect is armed and dangerous must support the frisk. In the absence of specific reasons to believe a suspect is armed, no frisk is permitted. Because it decided the case in the way it did, there was no need for the court to consider whether the retrieval of the marijuana in the pocket was within the scope of the frisk. Since a frisk is only for the purpose of uncovering weapons, in most cases an officer would not be justified in pulling a soft bag of marijuana out of the pocket of the person being frisked. Texas v. Cantwell, No. 10-01-371 (Tex. App. – Waco, 8-21-02).

Things That Make You Go "Hmmmm"

Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Can you be a closet claustrophobic?

Why is the word abbreviation so long?

Is it possible to be totally partial?

What's another word for thesaurus?

If a book about failures doesn't sell, is it a success?

If the funeral procession is at night, do folks drive with their lights off?

If a stealth bomber crashes in a forest, will it make a sound?

Should vegetarians eat animal crackers?

Do cemetery workers prefer the graveyard shift?

What do you do when you see an endangered animal that eats only endangered plants?

Do hungry crows have ravenous appetites?

Why is bra singular and panties plural?

Instead of talking to your plants, if you yelled at them would they still grow? Only to be troubled and insecure?

Is there another word for synonym?

Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do "practice"?

The World's Easiest Quiz (Yeah Right)

From the Chaplain

THOUGHTS FOR THE NEW YEAR

A New Year’s Resolution usually goes in one year and out the next.

On the thirty-second day of the thirteenth month/on the eighth day of the week we will find the things we seek.

The month of January is named after the Roman god Janus, who was pictured with two faces, one looking back and the other looking forward. New Year’s Day provides a valuable time to ponder the past while anticipating the future.

Time has no division to mark its passage; there is never a thunderstorm to announce the beginning of a new year. It is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.