John Stevenson
January 18, 2001, Thursday
Copyright 2001 The Durham Herald Co.
The Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.)
January 18, 2001, Thursday
(DURHAM COUNTY, N.C.) -- A judge ruled Wednesday that Durham County Sheriff’s Deputy C.W. Clark violated the constitutional rights of a drug suspect by frisking him without good reason in 1999.
Superior Court Judge Ron Stephens said that because of the constitutional violation, 17 rocks of crack cocaine found on 26-year-old Jeffrey Green may not be used as evidence in court.
Without the evidence, criminal charges against Green likely will have to be dismissed, prosecutor Michael Moore said.
The incident occurred at the Extended StayAmerica motel on Tower Boulevard in October 1999.
According to testimony, Clark was off-duty and was working as a security guard at the motel when a van drove up. About 10 people remained in the van for a few minutes and then got out, after which Clark smelled marijuana, testimony indicated.
Clark reportedly followed the men into a motel room, where one of them - not Green - surrendered some marijuana. Clark then conducted a frisk search of Green.
Clark said he did so because he was the only officer at the scene, his radio didn’t work and he was worried about his safety. He merely wanted to see if Green was carrying a weapon, he said.
But defense lawyer Lawrence Campbell argued that the search was unreasonable and that Clark had no real reason to be worried about his safety.
“This officer does have a right to protect himself,” Campbell added. “He has a right to be concerned about his safety. But my client has a 4th Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. ... In the pursuit of fighting crime, an officer still is required to act reasonably and prudently. He [Clark] had no right to frisk Mr. Green.”
Judge Stephens said he was “concerned about the legitimate need for safety of police officers.”
Stephens also said that on the night in question, Clark “had a good smell for criminal activity, knew it was there, could feel it there. Generally, where there is smoke there is fire.”
But Clark nevertheless did not have sufficient reason under the circumstances to conduct a frisk search of Green, Stephens concluded.
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