Crofoot

Petitioner, James Leslie Crofoot, seeks a pretrial writ of mandate pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5, subdivision (o), his motion to suppress in the trial court having been denied. We stayed the trial and issued an order to show cause.

Petitioner was charged with burglary (Pen. Code, § 459).

Facts

Officer Reid of the Modesto Police Department testified in substance that at 3:30 a.m., while driving down McHenry Avenue on patrol, he saw petitioner and codefendant, Rodney Stine, cross McHenry Avenue from east to west a short distance in front of his patrol car. Stine was wearing a backpack. When they came into the lights of the patrol car the individuals broke into a run across McHenry Avenue and onto the bank of an irrigation canal that runs perpendicular to the road. That portion of McHenry Avenue is located in an area which is a busy business district during normal business hours; adjacent to the canal is a residential area. After observing this behavior, Officer Reid quickly drove his automobile around the block and parked it off the road on Johnson Street, which apparently runs parallel to McHenry one block to the east. The officer turned off the vehicle lights…