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Harbuck v. State9/8/1999
No. 4115
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT
Appeal from the District Court, Fourth Judicial District, Fairbanks, Charles R. Pengilly and H.E. Crutchfield, Judges.
Ronald Harbuck, following a jury trial, was convicted of one count of driving while intoxicated (DWI). He appeals, contending that District Court Judge Charles R. Pengilly erred when he denied Harbuck's motions to suppress his statements and his breath test results. We affirm.
According to the evidence produced at the suppression hearing, on June 13, 1997, the Alaska State Troopers (AST) received a number of citizen reports of a possible DWI on the Richardson Highway near the main gate of Eielson Air Force Base. Different people reported that a grey pickup truck, driven by a white male (later identified as Harbuck), was initially driving northbound in the southbound lanes, then was driving northbound in the northbound lanes, but was swerving across the traffic lanes and the highway shoulder; Harbuck then had an accident when he left the roadway and drove into a ditch. The accident apparently rendered the truck inoperable.
Soon after this report, a person (who happened to be a tow truck driver) telephoned and informed the troopers that an airman from the base had dropped Harbuck off at a local business on the Old Richardson Highway. However, the tow truck driver later told troopers that Harbuck had then left in a black pickup driven by a woman. The tow truck driver related the make and color of the woman's truck, as well as the license plate number. The tow truck driver also said that he had had contact with Harbuck, and said that he believed that Harbuck was drunk and possibly injured.
Alaska State Troopers Gary Webb and Patrick Johnson, using the license plate number, found that it was registered to Harbuck's wife, Eugina. En route to her address, they saw Eugina Harbuck driving this black pickup. They flagged her down, and she told Trooper Webb that she had taken Harbuck to their house. The troopers proceeded to the house to check on Harbuck's welfare. When knocking at the door proved fruitless, the troopers had the AST dispatcher call the house, but no one answered. The dispatcher then contacted Eugina Harbuck.
Through the dispatcher, the troopers relayed to Eugina Harbuck that because of the accident and the report of possible injuries, they were concerned about her husband; they asked her permission to enter the house to check on him. Through the dispatcher, she gave the troopers permission to enter the house.
The door was unlocked, so the troopers entered and continuously announced their presence; no one responded. They eventually found Harbuck, asleep or unconscious, in his bed. It took a few minutes and some effort to rouse him. When he finally awoke, the troopers saw that he was disoriented, and they could smell the obvious odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath and person. When the troopers asked Harbuck if he had been injured, and whether he needed an ambulance, Harbuck answered that he was not hurt. When the troopers, who had not yet been to the accident scene, asked if anyone else was involved who needed assistance, Harbuck answered that he had been alone in the truck.
During this contact with Harbuck, the troopers noticed that, in addition to the odor of an alcoholic beverage, Harbuck's speech was slurred, his eyes were bloodshot and watery, he looked dazed, and his balance and motor functions were poor. The troopers began to suspect that Harbuck's condition was not the result of an injury, but of intoxication. The troopers asked Harbuck if he had had anything to drink since he had arrived home. Harbuck initially answ
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