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Kimsey v. Wyoming Department of Transportation1/30/2002
ances, a prudent, reasonable, and cautious police officer is led to believe a crime has been committed by the person who is being arrested. Smith, 11 P.3d at 937. Probable cause by definition involves probabilities rather than certainties. Id.
[ ] After analyzing the totality of the circumstances that led up to Kimsey's arrest, we hold that Officer Johnson possessed adequate probable cause to arrest Kimsey for driving while under the influence of alcohol. It took only a few minutes for Kimsey to arrive at the Law Center after he called to inquire about the condition of his wife. Officer Johnson left the building just before Kimsey arrived, and when he returned to speak with Kimsey, he noticed the vehicle in the parking lot. When Officer Johnson asked Kimsey about the truck, Kimsey admitted that it was his and that he had driven it to the Law Center, assuring Officer Johnson that he was okay to drive. Officer Johnson told Kimsey that he thought Kimsey was too intoxicated to be driving, and Kimsey again assured Officer Johnson that he was all right to drive. When Officer Johnson asked Kimsey to perform some field sobriety tests, Kimsey asked if he could just collect his wife and promised to walk home. Officer Johnson again requested Kimsey perform sobriety tests, and Kimsey replied that he did not drive the vehicle to the Law Center and that he did not know how it got there. Kimsey next gave the explanation that maybe his wife had driven the vehicle to the Law Center.
[ ] Given the confusing nature of Kimsey's statements, along with his slurred speech, instability, and the strong odor of alcohol, Officer Johnson concluded that Kimsey was intoxicated. This conclusion, coupled with the presence of Kimsey's vehicle in the parking lot, encompass the reasonable conclusion that Kimsey was intoxicated and that he had driven his vehicle to the Law Center to check on his wife.
[ ] Kimsey asserts to this court that when he told Officer Johnson he drove to the Law Center, he meant he had received a ride to the Law Center. We find it peculiar that Kimsey neither offered this excuse to any of the officers on the night he was arrested, nor did he present any evidence at the hearing regarding the identity of the individual he claims gave him the ride.
[ ] We hold that the totality of the circumstances were adequate to cause a reasonable police officer to believe Kimsey had driven while under the influence of alcohol even though no one actually saw him driving the vehicle. Officer Johnson, therefore, possessed adequate probable cause to arrest Kimsey for driving while under the influence of alcohol.
B. Chemical Tests
[ ] Kimsey next contends that the hearing examiner's finding that he refused to submit to all required chemical tests was not supported by substantial evidence. He asserts that he did submit to the required tests and that the officers on duty that night banded together to fabricate their own official story of what transpired. WYDOT replies that Kimsey initially refused to take a breathalyzer test, but did later take several so that the officers could determine when Kimsey could be released from jail.
[ ] To support his argument, Kimsey claims that the detention officer advised that he had blown approximately a .17. He maintains that this evidence corroborates that he did take a test. He also insists that a .17 reading is more consistent with having been tested soon after he got there than after spending seventeen hours in jail.
[ ] This court has adopted a bright line rule that states once a driver refuses to take a test, any subsequent attempt to rescind or cure that refusal is ineffective against the legal consequences of the initial refus
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