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State v. Loh10/26/2000
h, in itself, may not have provided an adequate basis for the stop. We found persuasive the rationale that an otherwise valid stop does not become unreasonable merely because the officer has intuitive suspicions of some other criminal activity; that is, an officer's state of mind does not have to perfectly match his or her legitimate actions. Id. at 482-83.
[ ] We have previously declined to hold unreasonable, as a matter of law, an officer following a suspect driver for nearly five miles before stopping the vehicle. Johnson v. North Dakota Dep't of Transp., 530 N.W.2d 359, 361 (N.D. 1995). We conceded an officer may show poor judgment in permitting a suspected drunk driver to continue driving once the officer has formed a reasonable and articulable suspicion the driver is violating the law, yet we concluded it would be "equally unwise . . . to craft a bright-line rule limiting the distance an officer may follow a driver, suspected of violating the law, before initiating a stop." Id.
III.
[ ] Accordingly, we affirm Loh's conviction and the trial court's denial of Loh's motion to suppress evidence because the officer not only had a reasonable and articulable suspicion but had probable cause to justify the investigatory vehicle stop, which was not invalidated when the officer suspected other criminal activity and followed Loh for five miles before initiating the stop.
[ ]Carol Ronning Kapsner
Mary Muehlen Maring
William A. Neumann
Dale V. Sandstrom
Gerald W. VandeWalle, C.J.
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