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Motor Vehicles – OWI — reasonable suspicion

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//April 22, 2014//

Motor Vehicles – OWI — reasonable suspicion

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//April 22, 2014//

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U.S. Supreme Court

Criminal

Motor Vehicles – OWI — reasonable suspicion

A 911 report of a single instance of careless driving provides reasonable suspicion the driver is intoxicated.

The 911 call in this case bore adequate indicia of reliability for the officer to credit the caller’s account. By reporting that she had been run off the road by a specific vehicle, the caller necessarily claimed an eyewitness basis of knowledge. The apparently short time between the reported incident and the 911 call suggests that the caller had little time to fabricate the report. And a reasonable officer could conclude that a false tipster would think twice before using the 911 system, which has several technological and regulatory features that safeguard against making false reports with immunity.

Not only was the tip here reliable, but it also created reasonable suspicion of drunk driving. Running another car off the road suggests the sort of impairment that characterizes drunk driving. While that conduct might be explained by another cause such as driver distraction, reasonable suspicion “need not rule out the possibility of innocent conduct.” United States v. Arvizu, 534 U. S. 266, 277. Finally, the officer’s failure to observe additional suspicious conduct during the short period that he followed the truck did not dispel the reasonable suspicion of drunk driving, and the officer was not required to surveil the truck for a longer period.

Affirmed.

12-9490 Navarette v. California

Thomas, J.; Scalia, J., dissenting.

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