Nichole Vangansbeke v. State
Nichole Vangansbeke v. State
Concurring Opinion
concurring specially.
I am in agreement with the majority opinion. I write separately to emphasize the importance of trial courts conducting a thorough, fact-intensive review of traffic stops to ensure that the principles of Rodriquez are honored. The nature of these stops, which often involve complicated, fact-specific determinations, makes it inappropriate to formulate a precise time limit for issuing a citation or warning. Yet open-ended standards can lead to abuse. Officers must not be allowed to unnecessarily prolong stops involving citizens suspected of nothing more than traffic violations.
Opinion of the Court
Nicole Vangansbeke appeals the denial of her dispositive motion to suppress drugs and drug paraphernalia taken from her person during a traffic stop. The officers acquired reasonable suspicion to search the car in which Vangansbeke was traveling based on a canine alert to the presence of drugs inside the vehicle. The officers then acquired reasonable suspicion to search Vangansbeke based on her movements when exiting the vehicle, which suggested she was hiding contraband.
Vangansbeke was one of three passengers in a car that was pulled over for failure to yield at a stop sign. Because the officers who made the stop were part of a “tactical investigations unit,” their undercover vehicles did not have computers. As a result, the officers had to radio the vehicle’s information and the passengers’ names in to the dispatcher individually. The department also shared a single channel, meaning that the officers would have to wait for the dispatcher to process earlier requests from officers at other locations before the dispatcher would be able to process their request.
Ten minutes into the stop, after completing the background checks for the driver
After the canine alerted the officérs to the presence of drugs, the passengers were ordered to exit the car. The unusual manner in which Vangansbeke adjusted her clothing as she exited the vehicle provided the officers with reasonable suspicion that she was hiding contraband. The officers searched Vangansbeke and found drugs and drug paraphernalia on her person. Vangansbeke moved to suppress the evidence, but the trial court denied the motion.
This Court reviews an order on a motion to suppress evidence under a mixed standard—deference is given to the trial court’s factual findings, which will be upheld .if supported by competent, substantial evidence, while the court’s legal determinations are reviewed de novo. Sowerby v. State, 73 So.3d 329, 331 (Fla. 5th DCA 2011). Both the United States and Florida Constitutions protect the right of the people to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Amend. IV, U.S. Const.; Art. 1, § 12, Fla. Const. The Florida Constitution is construed in conformity with United States Supreme Court precedent. Art. I, § 12, Fla. Const.
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a dog-sniff conducted as part of an otherwise reasonable seizure does not violate the Fourth Amendment because the canine alerts only to the presence of contraband; because there is no legitimate privacy interest in possessing contraband, the dog-sniff does not implicate legitimate privacy interests. Illinois v. Caballes, 543 U.S. 405, 408-10, 125 S.Ct. 834, 160 L.Ed.2d 842 (2005). A dog-sniff that , prolongs a traffic stop, on the other, hand, results in an unlawful seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment absent reasonable suspicion to prolong the stop.
Courts interpreting Rodriguez have emphasized the importance of conducting a detailed, minute-by-minute analysis of the stop to determine if the stop was prolonged. See, e.g., Underhill v. State, 197 So.3d 90, 92 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016). In'this case, the trial court found that the evidence did not support Vangansbeke’s argument that the officers intentionally and unnecessarily stalled the process of issuing a traffic warning.' There is substantial, competent evidence ‘to support that finding.
The encounter was recorded on one of the officer’s body cameras. The DVD created from the body camera demonstrates
The trial court’s order stated that if the officers prolonged the stop, it was only for a “de minimus” period of time. However, the U.S. Supreme Court and this Court, among others, have rejected a de minimus exception to the Fourth Amendment. See, e.g., Rodriguez, 135 S.Ct. at 1615-16; Whitfield v. State, 33 So.3d 787, 792 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010). Nonetheless, the subsequent findings and conclusions in the trial court’s order, supported by the images from the DVD, clarify that this “de mini-mus” comment was not the basis for the denial of Vangansbeke’s motion to suppress. The remainder of the order explains that the stop was not unnecessarily prolonged, even for a de minimus period.
We emphasize the unique circumstances of this case. The combination of four individuals in the vehicle, along with the officers’ lack of access to a computer, necessitated by the work of the tactical unit, resulted in an approximately twenty-minute delay from the initial stop to the beginning of the dog-sniff. Despite the length of the stop, the record shows that the officers were scrupulous in performing their duties and did not act to prolong the encounter. Accordingly, we affirm.
AFFIRMED,
. Vangansbeke does not challenge the legality of the initial stop, the qualifications of the canine, or the reasonable suspicion to search her person.
. The State below and on appeal has not argued the presence of reasonable suspicion to justify any prolonged seizure.
. The computer-assisted dispatch times, relied on in part by the trial court, refer to the time that the dispatcher entered the information into the computer, not the actual timeline for the course of events in this case. As a result, the DVD of the officer’s body camera presents a more accurate picture of the time frame involved. This Court relied on the DVD in reviewing the trial court’s order.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.