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City of Brecksville v. Bayless4/3/1997
JUDGMENT Affirmed
Defendant-appellant Michael C. Bayless appeals from his convictions in Garfield Heights Municipal Court following a jury trial for driving under the influence of alcohol (R.C. 4511.19(A)), driving under license suspension (R.C. 4507.02), weaving (R.C. 4511.33), and operating a motor vehicle with an open alcoholic container (R.C. 4301.62). Defendant contends that the trial court erred in failing to suppress certain evidence in that the police had no reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigatory stop of defendant and the court should have accepted defendant's no contest plea to the driving under suspension charge. We find no merit to the appeal and affirm.
On the evening of March 6, 1996, defendant attended a rock concert with his girlfriend at Gund Arena in downtown Cleveland. After the concert, defendant with his girlfriend began a return trip down I-77 to his home in Mantua in Portage County. Over the course of several miles, defendant was observed by another motorist weaving and cutting people off. After observing this erratic behavior, the motorist contacted police by cellular phone, identified himself, and reported that defendant was not keeping within his lane and almost caused several high speed accidents. The caller identified the offending vehicle as a purple Ford pick-up truck with license plate N188PN. The Brecksville Police dispatched a patrol car to investigate. The Brecksville police officer positioned himself on I-77's southbound right berm and soon observed defendant's truck in the passing lane of I-77. The officer began following defendant and observed over the course of one mile defendant weaving substantially within the high speed lane at least four times and once weaving one-third of the trucks width into the next lane. Without any signal from the police, defendant swerved from the passing lane into the right lane and then quickly pulled off the highway completely and stopped on the berm. The defendant did not operate his turn signal when making the lane changes. The officer was satisfied that he had observed sufficient facts to investigate the motor vehicle violations involving defendant, turned his overhead lights on, and pulled over behind the defendant's vehicle which was stopped just south of Miller Road in Brecksville. (Supp. Tr. at 8-12).
The officer observed defendant exit his truck and walk to the front of it. The officer exited the patrol car and asked the driver to come to the rear of the truck. He observed that defendant was uneasy on his feet as he walked towards him. He explained to defendant that a call was received about defendant's driving and he had personally observed him driving erratically. Defendant explained that something was wrong with his fan belt. At that time, another Brecksville police officer stopped at the scene to assist in the matter. While talking to defendant, the first officer detected a strong odor of alcoholic beverage, bloodshot eyes and thick-tongued speech. The officers asked defendant if he had anything to drink and he replied that he had a couple of beers. The defendant failed a walk-and-turn field sobriety test, losing his balance and could not walk a straight line. The defendant refused to take a stand-and-count test. When the arresting officer attempted to observe defendant's pupils by administering the gaze nystagmus test with a flashlight, defendant ignored his instructions, turned away and voluntarily put both arms out to be handcuffed. (Supp. Tr. at 13-17).
Defendant was advised that he was arrested for driving under the influence. An inquiry into his driving status revealed he was also driving under suspension from a prior DUI charge. An inventory of his vehicle prior to
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