Unlawful-stop Claim

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WI Court of Appeals – District II

Case Name: Fond Du Lac County v. Isaac Anthony Dahlke

Case No.: 2017AP1417

Officials: HAGEDORN, J.

Focus: Unlawful-stop Claim

This case concerns whether an officer’s search of a citizen’s vehicle was supported by reasonable suspicion. Shortly after midnight on November 12, 2016, Deputy Lucas Olson stopped Isaac Dahlke in a wayside that was either next to or part of a park, depending on one’s view of the evidence. Dahlke’s vehicle was searched during the stop, leading to Dahlke’s arrest and citation for possession of marijuana. Dahlke moved to suppress the results of the search on the grounds that the initial stop itself was unlawful. The circuit court agreed and granted the motion.

On appeal, the County argues that the stop was justified based on what Olson reasonably believed to be a violation of a Fond du Lac County ordinance restricting hours of access to the County’s parks, or even without an ordinance violation, reasonable suspicion otherwise that Dahlke was involved in criminal activity. Because the County failed to prove the objective reasonableness of Olson’s belief that Dahlke’s entry into a wayside was in violation of the County ordinance, this belief did not justify the stop. Neither is the stop saved on the grounds that reasonable suspicion was present independent of the alleged ordinance violation. Accordingly, we affirm.

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