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State v. Boyea12/1/2000
. App. 1997) (report of intoxicated driver supported investigative stop despite lack of personal observation by officers).
Other decisions, not cited in Lamb, though closely on point, include: State v. Smith, 638 N.E.2d 1353, 1356 (Ind. Ct. App. 1994) (radio dispatch conveying information based upon report of erratic behavior by grey Dodge Dakota pickup traveling westbound on I-70 near Clay-Putnam county line provided reasonable suspicion to support investigative detention); State v. Slater, 986 P.2d 1038, 1046 (Kan. 1999) (approving Tucker in upholding stop based upon anonymous call to police dispatcher regarding possible drunk driver and describing make and location of vehicle); State v. Sampson, 669 A.2d 1326, 1327 (Me. 1996) (anonymous tip of "possible drunk-driver," together with vehicle description, provided reasonable suspicion sufficient to support investigatory stop); and State ex rel. Taxation and Revenue Dept. Motor Vehicle Div. v. Van Ruiten, 760 P.2d 1302, 1305 (N.M. Ct. App. 1988) (radio dispatch to officer based upon unidentified caller's report of suspected drunk driver in white pick-up leaving store and heading south on highway supported investigative detention despite lack of corroborating evidence).
The case law is not unanimous. In State v. Miller, 510 N.W.2d 638, 639 (N.D. 1994), the court considered a motor vehicle stop based upon an anonymous informant's report that the driver of a pickup in a fast-food drive-up lane "could barely hold his head up." The majority there concluded that the "quality" of the tip, which misdescribed the color of the pickup and gave no indication of incriminating behavior other than the ambiguous statement that the driver could not hold his head up, was insufficient to support the stop. Id. at 644. In so holding, however, the court suggested that a more accurate and specific report of erratic driving might have been sufficient, even without personal observation of the incriminating behavior, to support an investigative detention. See id. at 645.
In McChesney v. State, 988 P.2d 1071, 1078 (Wyo. 1999), the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled in a sharply divided three-to-two decision that a radio dispatch of erratic driving based upon an anonymous tip was insufficient to support an investigative detention, absent some independent corroboration of the tip by the investigating officer. In so holding, the court noted that its ruling was consistent with state highway-patrol policy that officers "will not make a stop unless police observation confirms either the report or some other illegal or suspicious activity." Id. at 1077. In a vigorous dissent, however, two justices argued that,
iven the totality of the circumstances in this case, which included the description of the vehicle . . . ; the location and direction of travel; the discovery by the officer of a vehicle matching that description; the arrival of that vehicle within a predictable time frame; and the clear statement of aberrant driving . . . , the officer had sufficient reasonable suspicion to accomplish an investigatory stop. Id. at 1079.
After citing the numerous decisions from other states upholding its position, the dissent concluded with language equally applicable here:
Certainly the individual is concerned, and justifiably, with an "intrusion upon cherished personal security. . . ." The duty of the officer is to concern himself with protection of the public from the hazards associated with intoxicated drivers.
. . . If the circumstances involve a threat to the lives or safety of others that is posed by someone who may be driving while intoxicated or impaired, the reasonable officer must pursue an investigation. Id. at 10
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