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State v. Boyea12/1/2000
trial court found, that the officer had visual contact with defendant for only a portion of the short time that he pursued her, and that he effectuated the stop immediately after he caught up with her. This was not an officer seeking independent verification that a driver was intoxicated, but rather one intent upon catching and stopping as soon as practically possible a driver whom he already suspected of being under the influence.
It is important to understand these factual nuances to better appreciate the stark legal issue they present. It is an issue which this Court recently considered, albeit indirectly, in State v. Lamb, 168 Vt. 194, 720 A.2d 1101 (1998), and which numerous other courts have directly addressed in recent years. May a police officer acting upon an anonymous tip that accurately describes a vehicle, accurately predicts its route and location upon the highway, and indicates that it is behaving in a fashion indicative of drunk driving , reasonably detain the vehicle without personally observing some indicia of intoxication? Or, alternatively, must the officer wait to observe some incriminating behavior, however that might threaten the driver's or the public's safety, before stopping the vehicle to investigate?
Confronted with this precise issue, a majority of courts have concluded that failing to stop a vehicle in these circumstances in order to confirm or dispel the officer's suspicions exposes the public, and the driver, to an unreasonable risk of death or injury. Indeed, we relied upon many of these decisions in Lamb, observing that " he potential risk of harm to the defendant and the public is widely acknowledged to be a critical factor in assessing the reasonableness of an investigatory stop." 168 Vt. at 199, 720 A.2d at 1104. After reviewing several cases involving deadly weapons, we concluded that " he principle . . . that the gravity of the risk of harm must be considered in evaluating the reasonableness of the investigatory stop . . . applies with equal force to intoxicated driving." Id. at 200, 720 A.2d at 1105.
We then proceeded to cite with approval a series of cases upholding brief investigative motor-vehicle stops based upon an anonymous tip of erratic or drunk driving . The first decision we discussed was State v. Melanson, 665 A.2d 338 (N.H. 1995). There, as here, a police officer received a report from a dispatcher relaying information from an anonymous informant about a vehicle on the highway. The information conveyed "an exact description of the vehicle, the vehicle's current location and direction of travel, and a description of prior erratic driving." Id. at 341. Based upon this information, the officer located the vehicle, activated his lights, and stopped the vehicle, resulting in the driver's arrest for DUI. The officer observed no erratic behavior prior to activating his lights. Id. at 339.
In assessing the validity of the stop, the New Hampshire court recognized the settled principle that reasonable suspicion to undertake a brief investigative detention "is a less demanding standard than probable cause not only in the sense that can be established with information that is different in quantity of content than that required to establish probable cause, but also in the sense that reasonable suspicion can arise from information that is less reliable than that required to show probable cause." Id. (quoting Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 330 (1990)) (alteration in original); see also Lamb, 168 Vt. at 196, 720 A.2d at 1102 (reasonable suspicion is less demanding standard than probable cause, and need not be based upon officer's personal observation). To assess the reliability of information received from an anonymous informant, the
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