How do you determine what is reasonable suspicion when you make a stop?

[sparrow803]

DES MOINES, Iowa --- A conviction for a first-time drunken driving offender was overturned Wednesday by the Iowa Court of Appeals because the police officer didn't have reasonable suspicion to make the traffic stop.

According to the ruling, Thomas Dickinson, 43, of Waterloo, was stopped by Officer Dana Jaeger with the University of Northern Iowa campus police in June 2009. Jaeger said he saw Dickinson's vehicle pull into a handicap access area and then back out of the entryway. Jaeger said he stopped the driver because he had ‘backed out without slowing,' and Dickinson failed subsequent field sobriety tests.

Dickinson filed a motion to suppress evidence from the stop after being charged in August 2009.

At the motion hearing, Jaeger said he wrote the citation, because Dickinson had pulled out of the driveway without stopping. However, he later admitted that the car actually had stopped.

Jaeger said he had never seen anyone drive up into that area, which is considered a sidewalk, and then make a turnaround and back out. He said he thought intoxication was a possibility, so he stopped Dickinson.

A Black Hawk County District Court judge ruled that the stop was valid. However, the appeals court ruled that Dickinson's driving was normal and the officer had observed no weaving or erratic speeds that would have justified it.

The ruling sends the case back to district court.

Posted in Local on Thursday, February 24, 2011 8:00 am Updated: 9:15 am. | Tags: Drunken Driving, Iowa Court Of Appeals, Conviction Overturned, Thoms Dickinson, Dana Jaeger, University Of Northern Iowa Police, Black Hawk County District Court

[Citicop]

Findlaw.com defines Reasonable Suspicion as:

an objectively justifiable suspicion that is based on specific facts or circumstances and that justifies stopping and sometimes searching (as by frisking) a person thought to be involved in criminal activity at the time see also reasonable cause at cause compare probable cause at cause, terry stop NOTE: A police officer stopping a person must be able to point to specific facts or circumstances even though the level of suspicion need not rise to that of the belief that is supported by probable cause. A reasonable suspicion is more than a hunch.

[icu650]

A lot of cases are lost due to the inability of the officer to articulate who, what, when and where. This does not mean the officer is a "stupid" cop. He most likely is an excellent cop but just can't seem to put what he saw into words that will help justify his actions. Testifying in court is not easy. I am not specifically talking about the case in question but in general.

[greg72982]

Changing your story never helps your case as an officer either, though that could have been twisted by the writer of the article.

[scott715us]

Nothing big coming out of this ruling. He couldn't articulate any traffic violations or specific facts that would lead a reasonble person to believe the driver was impaired. For every one intermediate (appellate) court decision overturning a conviction, there are 100 affirming the trial court's ruling.

[mcsap]

Simply backing up " fast " isn't a good violation unless someone was coming up behind him. it is a great asset to have a good knolwedge of the equipment laws of your state as some of the simplest violations can result in a GOOD lawful stop.

I was running tags one night and it came back that the owner was suspended. I followed the truck several miles and saw no good violations. As I sat behind him at a red light , I saw that his license plate sticker said , Oct 2010. I knew the tag was valid from when I ran the plate BUT the law requires that the Oct 2011 sticker be there.

I had my stop and got the right guy.

I have had DUI's that did some very minor weaving so I looked for that burned out license plate light , too many stickers in the rear window , rear louvers without dual rear mirrors , one wiper where there should be two , tire tread out past the fenders etc. Equipment violations are a great backup to everyday RS just in case the court doesn't like the reason for the stop.