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Brewer v. State7/27/2004
or to the stop, the officer had received an anonymous citizen's report that Bramble may have been DUI. Bramble, 6-7. The officer approached the vehicle and asked Bramble whether he had been drinking; Bramble replied that he had not. The officer did not observe any signs of intoxication in Bramble such as bloodshot or glassy eyes, odor of alcohol, slurred speech, lack of coordination or inability to understand instructions. Notwithstanding the absence of such indicators, the officer requested Bramble to perform field sobriety tests. Bramble, 8. Based on the field sobriety tests, the officer arrested Bramble for DUI. Bramble refused to take a preliminary breath test at the scene of the arrest and again refused to take a breath test at the police station. Bramble, 13. As a result, Bramble's driver's license was seized and suspended. Bramble, 1.
Bramble petitioned the district court to reinstate his driver's license and the court denied the petition. Bramble appealed to this Court. Bramble, 1. We concluded that the arresting officer did not have a particularized suspicion that Bramble was DUI because, other than his speeding and the anonymous citizen's report, no aspects of his driving, behavior or physical symptoms indicated he was under the influence of alcohol. Bramble, 24. Consequently, we held that the district court erred in denying his motion to reinstate his driver's license. Bramble, 29-30.
In the present case, Tafelmeyer detected the odor of alcoholic beverage on Brewer's breath, Brewer stated he had been drinking, he could not produce the proper vehicle documentation and his attitude during the traffic stop was argumentative and uncooperative. Unlike the officer in Bramble, and contrary to Brewer's assertion that the only evidence of intoxication was the odor of alcoholic beverage, Tafelmeyer observed several indications that Brewer may have been under the influence of alcohol. As a result, Bramble is not applicable here.
Brewer also cites several cases from other jurisdictions in support of his argument that the odor of alcoholic beverage, in and of itself, is insufficient to establish reasonable cause to believe a driver is DUI. As discussed above, Tafelmeyer observed several indications of Brewer being under the influence of alcohol in addition to the odor of alcoholic beverage. Consequently, the premise underlying Brewer's argument fails and the cited cases are inapplicable.
We conclude Brewer has failed to establish that the District Court's finding that Tafelmeyer had reasonable grounds to believe, prior to requesting Brewer to perform field sobriety tests, that Brewer was driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol is clearly erroneous. As a result, we further conclude that the District Court's conclusion that Brewer was not entitled to reinstatement of his driver's license, based on that finding, is correct. We hold, therefore, that the District Court did not err in denying Brewer's petition to reinstate his driver's license.
Affirmed.
KARLA M. GRAY
We concur:
PATRICIA O. COTTER
JAMES C. NELSON
W. WILLIAM LEAPHART
JIM RICE
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