IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON DIVISION ONE STATE OF WASHINGTON, ) No. 81203-3-I ) Respondent, ) ) v. ) ) ZACHERY KYLE MEREDITH, ) PUBLISHED OPINION ) Appellant. ) ) VERELLEN, J. — Article 1, section 7 of the Washington constitution prohibits warrantless seizures, save for narrow exceptions. Consent is one well-established exception. By boarding a public bus and accepting transportation, Zachery Meredith consented to the conditions of ridership. Those conditions include paying bus fare and complying with a fare enforcement officer’s request for proof of payment. Even assuming that Meredith was seized when an officer requested that he provide proof of payment, the officer’s request remained within the scope of Meredith’s consent. Because Meredith consented to the conditions of ridership and failed to provide proof of payment when requested, the trial court did not err by denying Meredith’s motion to suppress evidence gathered by the officer conducting fare enforcement. Therefore, we affirm. No. 81203-3-I/2 FACTS Zachery Meredith was riding the Swift regional transit bus in Everett late one morning when two officers from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office boarded to conduct fare enforcement. When conducting fare enforcement, officers would board a bus at a stop and then ask individual passengers for proof of payment while the bus was driving from one stop to the next. A “chase vehicle” would follow the bus to help with identifying and processing anyone ordered off the bus for nonpayment. Officer Timothy Dalton moved to the back of the bus and began working his way forward and saying “proof of payment or ORCA card” to each passenger in a conversational tone. His partner moved to the front of the bus and worked backward. The bus drove to its next stop while the officers checked for proof of payment. Officer Dalton requested “proof of payment or ORCA card” from Meredith, who began to check his pants and backpack. Meredith could have provided proof of payment either by showing a ticket purchased from a fare machine at a bus stop or by providing an ORCA fare card for the officer to scan with a digital reader. Failure to provide proof of payment could result in a notice of infraction or arrest. The bus continued along its route, and Meredith searched for four or five minutes without producing proof of payment. Officer Dalton ordered him to disembark at the next stop, and they left the bus together. Officer Dalton asked Meredith for his name and identification. Meredith said he was from Colorado and his name was “Jason McGumery.” Officer Dalton 2 No. 81203-3-I/3 radioed dispatch to run the name, and it produced no returns in either Washington or Colorado. Officer Dalton suspected McGumery was a fake name, so Officer Luis Zelaya arrived to help determine Meredith’s identity. Officer Zelaya used a mobile fingerprint reader to scan Meredith’s prints and then learned Meredith’s real name and that he had two outstanding felony warrants. Meredith was arrested on the outstanding warrants and on probable …
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