Commonwealth v. Spieler

887 A.2d 1271, 2005 Pa. Super. 397, 2005 Pa. Super. LEXIS 4217
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 30, 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 887 A.2d 1271 (Commonwealth v. Spieler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Spieler, 887 A.2d 1271, 2005 Pa. Super. 397, 2005 Pa. Super. LEXIS 4217 (Pa. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

McCAFFERY, J.

¶ 1 Appellant, Robert Spieler, appeals from the judgment of sentence imposed on September 7, 2004, by the Honorable Donald E. Machen of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, following Appellant’s conviction of two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or controlled substance.1 Specifically, Appellant asks us to decide whether the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence recovered after a traffic stop. The trial court, sitting as a suppression court, concluded that the police officer’s testimony describing his observations of Appellant’s operation of his vehicle was sufficient to establish that the officer had probable cause to justify the stop. Upon review, we conclude that the trial court properly denied Appellant's motion to suppress, and, accordingly, we affirm the judgment of sentence.

¶ 2 The relevant facts and procedural history of this case are as follows. At approximately 11:30 p.m. on December 26, 2003, Pittsburgh Police Officer Talib Ghaf-oor was on duty and traveling east on Penn Avenue towards the intersection of North Negley Avenue when he observed that traffic was backing up around the 5500 block area. (Notes of Testimony (“N.T.”), 9/7/04, at 3, 5). Officer Ghafoor drove forward to ascertain the réason for the backup, and noticed a white truck in front of the backed up traffic with Appellant in the driver’s seat. (Id. at 3). Officer Ghafoor pulled alongside the truck and shined his police cruiser light onto Appellant in order to draw Appellant’s attention to get him to move on, at which time Officer Ghafoor noticed that Appellant’s face was “beet red” and that he looked confused. (Id. at 3-4). Appellant then moved his car forward, but stopped at the traffic light at the intersection of North Negley and Penn Avenue even though the light was green. (Id. at 4). The light turned red and then green again, while Appellant continued to sit at the intersection in his truck. (Id. at 4). Appellant eventually did proceed through a green light and drove for another half block, during which time Officer Ghafoor observed Appellant’s vehicle weave in and out of his lane of traffic several times, all without using appropriate signals. (Id. at 4, 7). At this point, Officer Ghafoor activated his fights and siren and stopped Appellant’s vehicle because he was concerned that Appellant might have a medical condition, and on the basis of “a hunch that maybe something was wrong”. (Id. at 4-6). Approximately five minutes elapsed between the time the officer initially observed Appellant and when he stopped him. (Id. at 5).

¶3 Officer Ghafoor approached Appellant and noticed that a smell of alcohol was emanating from him, at which point Officer Ghafoor and another officer administered [1274]*1274three field sobriety tests. (Id. at 14). Appellant seemed very confused about the instructions he received from the officers regarding the field sobriety tests, and stated that he could not do the tests and refused to complete the last test. (Id.). As a result, Officer Ghafoor arrested Appellant for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or controlled substance, and took him to the police station for a blood alcohol intoxilizer test which resulted in readings of .221% and .225%. (Id.). Notably, Appellant was not given a citation for violating the Motor Vehicle Code (“MVC”). (Id. at 6).

¶ 4 Appellant was subsequently arrested for two counts of driving under the influence. Prior to trial, Appellant filed a motion to suppress all evidence which had been obtained during the traffic stop on the basis that there had been insufficient probable cause to justify the stop. On September 7, 2004, the trial court held a suppression hearing, after which it denied Appellant’s suppression motion. Officer Ghafoor testified at the suppression hearing that Appellant’s behavior, including failing to use turn signals and simply parking his vehicle in the middle of the flow of traffic, constituted violations of the MVC. (Id. at 7). Officer Ghafoor also testified that he believed that Appellant was intoxicated to a degree rendering him incapable of safe driving. (Id. at 16).

¶-5 A non-jury trial followed immediately, and Appellant was tried on stipulated facts based on the police report. The trial court found Appellant guilty of both counts of driving under the influence, and sentenced him to a period of incarceration of not less than forty-eight (48) hours and not more than seven (7) days. Upon the expiration of the minimum sentence, the trial court placed Appellant on parole, on the condition that he complete alcohol and safe driving classes and pay a $300 fine and a CAT loss fund fee. This timely appeal followed wherein Appellant presents the following issue for our consideration:

WHETHER THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FINDING THAT PROBABLE CAUSE EXISTED FOR OFFICER GHAFOOR TO EFFECTUATE A TRAFFIC STOP OF APPELLANT’S VEHICLE WHERE THERE WAS NO TESTIMONY BY OFFICER GHAF-OOR AT THE SUPPRESSION HEARING THAT HE POSSESSED SPECIFIC FACTS THAT THE VEHICLE OR THE DRIVER [WAS] IN VIOLATION OF SOME PROVISION OF THE VEHICLE CODE OR THAT APPELLANT’S VEHICLE PRESENTED A SAFETY HAZARD?

(Appellant’s Brief at 5).

¶ 6 Specifically, Appellant asserts that the traffic stop was improper, contending that the Commonwealth failed to present sufficient evidence at Appellant’s suppression hearing that Officer Ghafoor had possessed specific facts to believe Appellant had violated any provision of the MVC, or that Appellant’s vehicle was creating a safety hazard on the road at the time of the traffic stop, where the stop was effectuated on the basis of Officer Ghafoor’s “hunch” that something might have been wrong with Appellant. (Appellant’s Brief at 9-11). We disagree.

¶ 7 We review a trial court’s denial of a suppression motion under the following standard:

Our standard of review in addressing a challenge to a .trial court’s denial of a suppression motion is limited to determining whether the factual findings, are supported by the record and whether the legal conclusions drawn from those facts are correct. Since the prosecution prevailed in the suppression court, we may consider only the evidence of the prosecution and so much of the evidence [1275]*1275for the defense as remains uncontradict-ed when read in the context of the record as a whole. Where the record supports the factual findings of the trial court, we are bound by those facts and may reverse only if the legal conclusions drawn therefrom are in error.

Commonwealth v. Minnich, 874 A.2d 1234, 1236 (Pa.Super.2005) (quoting Commonwealth v. Blair, 860 A.2d 567, 571 (Pa.Super.2004)).

¶ 8 In determining when a traffic stop is justified, our Supreme Court has stated:

If the alleged basis of a vehicular stop is to permit a determination whether there has been compliance with the Motor Vehicle Code of this Commonwealth, it is encumbent [sic] upon the officer to articulate specific facts possessed by him, at the time of the questioned stop, which would provide probable cause to believe that the vehicle or the driver was in violation of some provision of the Code.

Commonwealth v. Whitmyer, 542 Pa.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
887 A.2d 1271, 2005 Pa. Super. 397, 2005 Pa. Super. LEXIS 4217, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-spieler-pasuperct-2005.