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State v. Myhre11/8/2005
civil liability if her information was false. These facts, when considered under the first Pratt factor, lend a high indicia of reliability to Yunis' report.
The second Pratt factor relating to indicia of reliability requires consideration of whether Yunis' citizen's report contained sufficient detail to establish that her information was based on her personal observations. Pratt, 286 Mont. at 165, 951 P.2d at 42. Myhre again argues that, because the highway patrol's call for service report contained no information indicating--and Reddick himself did not know--whether Yunis was relaying personal observations regarding the incident, there was insufficient indicia of reliability in the report to support the existence of a particularized suspicion. He contends, specifically, that it would be "reasonable to conclude that if the citizen informant actually observed such actions that she would have been able to provide a make, model and year of the vehicle, as well as the complete plate number." This contention, too, is without merit.
Here, the audio tape of Yunis' call to 911 establishes that the information she conveyed was based on her personal observations. Much of that detailed information is set forth in 3 above and need not be repeated here. Yunis continued to talk on her cell phone to the dispatcher for a number of minutes, giving a "play-by-play" report including that the truck was being driven all over the road; its lights kept going on and off; the truck had gone off the road into the ditch and then back onto the road; and that the truck exited the highway at the Manhattan, Montana, exit only to re-enter the highway and pass her vehicle again. Additionally, Yunis was able to inform the dispatcher--while talking and driving on a dark evening--that the truck was white in color and the license plate number began with the number 21. Yunis' citizen's report contained sufficient detail with regard to both quality and quantity to establish that her information was based on her personal observations of the incident. These facts, when considered under the second Pratt factor, also lend a high indicia of reliability to Yunis' report.
The third Pratt factor is whether the officer's personal observations corroborate the information given in the citizen informant's report. Pratt, 286 Mont. at 165, 951 P.2d at 43. Myhre contends that corroboration of a citizen tip "occurs when the officer personally observes illegal activity to justify an investigative stop," and notes that this did not occur in this case because Reddick did not personally observe any activity, such as erratic driving or a traffic law violation, which would corroborate Yunis' report of a possible intoxicated driver. However, under Pratt, a citizen informant's tip also may be corroborated "when the officer . . . finds the person, the vehicle, and the vehicle's location substantially as described by the informant." Pratt, 286 Mont. at 165, 951 P.2d at 43.
As stated above, Yunis was on her cell phone with the 911 dispatcher for several minutes reporting her observations of Myhre's truck. The 911 dispatcher relayed this information to the highway patrol dispatcher, who then relayed the information to Reddick. Reddick testified at the hearing in the District Court that the highway patrol dispatcher informed him of the description of the reported vehicle and that the report referenced a location at mile marker number 286. The dispatcher also advised Reddick that the citizen informant had observed the truck drive off the highway into the ditch at one point. Reddick observed two vehicles parked on the side of the highway at mile marker number 274. He pulled in behind the first vehicle, which was a white truck wi
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