Reggler v. State

A police officer's action in initially placing the defendant, whom she observed acting suspiciously, in the back of her patrol car while she awaited backup and investigated a residence that appeared to have been burglarized was reasonable and did not constitute an arrest under the circumstances.

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A jury convicted Darren Reggler of burglary, and he appeals. He contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress and that the evidence is insufficient to sustain his conviction. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. 1. When reviewing a ruling on a motion to suppress, we accept a trial court’s findings as to disputed facts unless the findings are clearly erroneous, but if the evidence is uncontroverted and no issue of witness credibility exists, we review de novo the trial court’s application of the law to undisputed facts. Vansant v. State , 264 Ga. 319, 320 1 443 SE2d 474 1994.

Reggler moved to suppress any evidence illegally seized during the investigation of this crime, including his own statements. He argued that the officer who found him on the scene arrested him without probable cause or a warrant, in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. At a hearing on the motion, the officer testified that when she responded to a burglary alarm at a townhouse, she found Reggler walking around the building from the back. When she asked what he was doing there, he replied that he lived in the building and had put his dog inside through his back door. The officer asked why he let his dog in the back door but was walking around to the front, and he responded that he lived there and that was his right. The officer checked Reggler’s identification, confirmed that he lived in the townhouse next door to the one with the alarm, and asked him to wait in front while she looked at the back of the building. She saw that Reggler’s backyard was fenced in but the backyard of the townhouse with the alarm was not, and the screen in a window adjacent to the back door was bent and broken. Seeing that the window was open, the officer returned to Reggler and said she was going to detain him because his actions were suspicious.

Reggler v. State

A police officer's action in initially placing the defendant, whom she observed acting suspiciously, in the back of her patrol car while she awaited backup and investigated a residence that appeared to have been burglarized was reasonable and did not constitute an arrest under the circumstances.

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