 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Gilkey v. State9/8/1999
No. 4113
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT
Appeal from the Superior Court, Third Judicial District, Anchorage, Elaine M. Andrews, Judge.
Olee Gilkey was convicted of three offenses: felony driving while intoxicated , felony refusal to submit to a breath test , and driving while his license was suspended or revoked . Gilkey's primary contention on appeal is that most of the evidence against him was the fruit of an unlawful arrest, an arrest that was not supported by probable cause. Gilkey also contends that the trial court unlawfully prevented him from introducing evidence suggesting that another man was driving the vehicle. For the reasons explained here, we affirm Gilkey's convictions.
Underlying facts
Anchorage Police Officer David Parker was patrolling the Mountain View neighborhood. Two young girls flagged him down and reported that a large brown car had nearly struck them. The girls told Parker that the car was currently sitting at a nearby intersection, next to a red pickup truck.
Parker went to investigate. He found the car and drove slowly past it. Two men were sitting in the car. Parker recognized the passenger as Derrick Elliott, a man he knew. The driver was unknown to Parker. He was a large black man with a fuzzy beard, and he was wearing a blue jacket and a black baseball cap.
Parker observed that one of the car's tail lights was hanging from its body by a bare wire. Just as Parker was driving past, the car pulled out into the roadway. When Parker started to make a U-turn to return to the vehicle, the car sped off. Traveling at high speed, the car turned off the main street and skidded into an alley, nearly striking some pedestrians. Parker pursued the vehicle.
The car came to a stop near 401 North Bliss Street. Parker saw the driver "hop out of the driver's seat ... and run east-bound through an apartment complex, towards an alley." Parker and a backup officer, John Vandervalk, spoke to the passenger, Elliott. Elliott, who appeared to be intoxicated, informed the officers that the driver's name was Olee Gilkey.
The officers looked inside the vehicle and saw a large (40-ounce) half-empty, open bottle of beer on the floor of the car. There was a strong odor of alcoholic beverages inside the car. On the dashboard, the officers discovered two framed certificates bearing Gilkey's name.
Parker decided to stay with Elliott. He gave Vandervalk a description of the driver, based on his recent personal observations of the man. Parker also broadcast several "locate" bulletins to his fellow officers, asking them to stop Gilkey.
Some 30 to 40 minutes later, the police received a report that a man had returned to the car and was searching for something in the nearby bushes. Vandervalk arrived at the scene first and approached the man, who turned out to be Gilkey. Gilkey smelled of alcoholic beverages, and he was unsteady on his feet. Parker arrived, recognized Gilkey, and administered a field sobriety test to him (the horizontal gaze nystagmus test). When Gilkey failed the test, Parker arrested him. Approximately 45 minutes had elapsed since Parker's first observation of the car and its driver.
Probable cause for Gilkey's arrest
Gilkey contends that the police lacked probable cause to believe (1) that he was the driver of the car and (2) that he was intoxicated.
Parker had sufficient reason at the time of Gilkey's arrest to conclude that Gilkey had been driving the car. First, Parker had personally observed the driver at close range, and Parker recognized Gilkey as that man. Were this not enough, the passenger in the
Page 1 2 3 Alaska DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|