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State v. Kindle1/14/2000
Filed 14-Jan-2000
On Appeal from District Court of Vermont Unit No. 2, Chittenden Circuit September Term, 1999 Amy M. Davenport, J.
The State appeals from the district court's decision suppressing evidence of defendant Eric Kindle's driving while intoxicated obtained from a motor-vehicle stop. The only issue on appeal is whether the observance of a red beam of light emanating from a passing car justified an investigatory motor-vehicle stop. We hold that it does and, therefore, reverse.
Defendant was charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of an intoxicating liquor in violation of 23 V.S.A. § 1201(a)(2). The court granted defendant's motion to suppress based on the following facts.
At approximately 2:10 a.m. on August 21, 1998, two Burlington police officers were stopped at a red light at the intersection of East and Colchester Avenues. While awaiting the light change, a vehicle operated by defendant passed through the intersection from the officers' left to right. As the car traveled in front of the officers, they observed a steady red beam of light pass across the windshield of their cruiser. Concluding that the beam resembled a laser-sighting device sometimes used for aiming a firearm, they pursued defendant and stopped him.
The officers ordered defendant and his passenger out of the vehicle. A protective pat-down revealed that the passenger possessed a type of hand-held laser pointer typically used as a visual aid for presentations, not a gun sight. Simultaneously, the officers noticed signs of defendant's intoxication which provided the basis for the DUI charge.
Defendant moved to dismiss the DUI charge claiming that the officers lacked reasonable suspicion to stop him. After a hearing, the court granted the motion concluding that the events leading to the traffic stop did not constitute reasonable suspicion because neither defendant nor his passenger had threatened the officers' safety. The court noted both that defendant's vehicle had traveled away from the officers, thereby removing any concern for their safety, and hand-held laser pointers are commonly used. The court granted the State's request for permission to appeal its ruling. See V.R.A.P. 5(b).
In order to lawfully stop defendant's vehicle, the officers must have had a reasonable and articulable suspicion of criminal activity. See State v. Welch, 162 Vt. 635, 636, 650 A.2d 516, 517 (1994) (mem.). The reasonable suspicion standard "requires some minimal level of objective justification for making the stop." State v. Lamb, 168 Vt. 194, 196, 720 A.2d 1101, 1102 (1998); see also State v. Kettlewell, 149 Vt. 331, 335, 544 A.2d 591, 594 (1987) (test is whether, looking at entire picture, police officers could reasonably surmise that occupants of vehicle they stopped were engaged in unlawful activity).
Looking at the whole picture, it was reasonable for the officers to have thought that an occupant of the car might have been engaged in criminal activity; specifically, pointing a firearm at others. In Vermont, pointing a firearm at another is unlawful. See, e.g., 13 V.S.A. §§ 4011 (intentionally aiming firearm towards another punishable by fine), 1025 (knowingly pointing firearm at or in direction of another presumed to be reckless endangerment), 1023 (simple assault includes attempt by physical menace to put another in fear of imminent serious bodily injury). Here, two officers witnessed a red beam, which resembled the beam from a laser-sighting device coming from a passing vehicle, arc across the windshield of their cruiser at approximately two o'clock in the morning. The misconduct the officers inferred was not limited to tha
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