Grassi v. People

2014 CO 12, 320 P.3d 332, 2014 WL 616131
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedFebruary 18, 2014
DocketSupreme Court Case No. 11SC720
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 2014 CO 12 (Grassi v. People) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grassi v. People, 2014 CO 12, 320 P.3d 332, 2014 WL 616131 (Colo. 2014).

Opinion

JUSTICE BOATRIGHT

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

{1 We granted certiorari to determine whether the police possessed probable cause pursuant to the fellow officer rule to draw blood from an unconscious driver following a motor vehicle accident, even though the officer who actually ordered the blood draws lacked independent probable cause1 We hold that the fellow officer rule imputes information that the police possess as a whole to an individual officer who effects a search or arrest if (1) that officer acts pursuant to a coordinated investigation and (2) the police possess the information at the time of the search or arrest. Because the record in this case reflects that the police as a whole, pursuant to a coordinated investigation, possessed probable cause to believe that the defendant had committed an alcohol-related offense at the time of the blood draws, the fellow officer rule imputed that probable cause to the officer who ordered the blood draws, meaning no Fourth Amendment violation occurred. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.

I. Facts and Procedural History

[ 2 On September 4, 20083, Petitioner Ronald Brett Grassi was involved in a single-car accident at approximately 3:50 a.m. Grassi, the driver of the car, suffered serious injuries, and a passenger in the car was killed. Paramedics transported Grassi to a local hospital for treatment, where he remained unconscious for several hours.

138 At 4:17 am., Trooper Benavides arrived at the crash site. Because the accident had resulted in a fatality, Trooper Benavides contacted both his supervisor and an accident reconstruction team through the police department's dispatch unit. Trooper Bena-vides then "walked the crash site," searching for the potential cause of the accident. He discovered no evidence of skid marks, yaw marks,2 or roadway obstruction, nor any suggestion that the driver had applied the brakes. Furthermore, the weather conditions were "clear and dry and ... fairly warm." Based on his preliminary observations, Trooper Benavides could find no external explanation for the crash, instead testifying that "[i]t looked like the car just ran off the right side of the roadway."

T4 At 4:58 a.m., Trooper Waters, an accident reconstruction specialist, arrived on the scene. Over the next two hours, Trooper Waters examined the crash site and ultimately corroborated Trooper Benavides's initial suspicions, concluding that no "mechanical defects or failures occurred that could have contributed to or caused the crash." Moreover, Trooper Waters deduced at the scene that the driver of the vehicle had likely followed the fog line3 off of the roadway, which "[iJntoxicated drivers have a propensity" to do. Trooper Waters completed his investigation prior to the time of the blood draws.

{ 5 Meanwhile, shortly after 5:00 a.m., Corporal Riley directed Trooper Duncan to travel to the hospital where Grassi was being treated. Specifically, Corporal Riley assigned Trooper Duncan 4 the task of investigating whether a male driver had recently been transported from the crash site and to obtain a blood draw if Trooper Duncan determined "that aleohol was involved." Trooper Duncan arrived at the hospital shortly after [335]*3355:80 a.m. and learned from a paramedic that Grassi was the driver who had been injured in the accident. Although Grassi remained unconscious, Trooper Duncan detected a strong odor of aleohol emanating from Gras-si's mouth. Trooper Duncan then ordered a blood draw, which a phlebotomist5 performed at 7:12 a.m.; the phlebotomist later conducted a second blood draw at 7:51 a.m. Prior to these blood draws, the police knew collectively that Grassi had been driving the vehicle when it crashed, that no road conditions or other external factors appeared to have caused the crash, that Grassi's driving was consistent with that of an intoxicated driver, and that his breath smelled of alcohol. The blood draws then revealed that Grassi's blood alcohol content ("BAC") exceeded the legal limit for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs ("DUI"), as provided by section 42-4-1301, C.R.S. (2018).

T6 The People initially charged Grassi with vehicular homicide, manslaughter, and driving with excessive BAC, and they later amended the complaint to add a charge for DUI. At trial, Grassi moved to suppress the evidence of his BAC, arguing that the police lacked probable cause to order the blood draws and thus violated his Fourth Amendment right to privacy. The trial court denied his motion, finding that Colorado's express consent statute, § 42-4-1801.1(8), C.R.S. (2013), did not require the police to possess probable ecause in order to draw blood from an unconscious driver. As a result, the People introduced evidence of Grassi's BAC at trial, and a jury ultimately found him guilty of all charges.

T7 Grassi appealed, and the court of appeals reversed the trial court's finding regarding probable cause and remanded for further proceedings. People v. Grassi 192 P.3d 496, 498 (Colo.App.2008). Specifically, the court of appeals held that the police cannot draw blood from an unconscious driver absent probable cause that he had committed an alcohol-related offense. Id. The court of appeals thus remanded the case so that the trial court could determine whether the police in fact possessed probable cause to order the blood draws. Id.

T8 On remand, the trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing, at which it heard testimony from Troopers Benavides, Duncan, and Waters.6 The trial court then considered "what the police knew at the time of the draw." Applying the fellow officer rule, the trial court aggregated the knowledge of the three troopers and found that, at the time of the first blood draw, the police as a whole possessed sufficient information to reasonably believe that Grassi had committed an aleohol-related driving offense and thus had probable cause to order the blood draws.

T9 Grassi again appealed, and the court of appeals affirmed. People v. Grassi, - P.3d ---, ---, 2011 WL 4837291, at *1 (Colo. App. Oct. 13, 2011). In its probable cause analysis, the court of appeals considered not only Trooper Duncan's observations but also those of Trooper Waters, noting that Trooper Waters, the accident reconstruction specialist, had surveyed the crash site before the phlebotomist performed the blood draws. Id. at ------, 2011 WL 4887291 at *8-4. The court of appeals then applied the fellow officer rule and held that the rule did "not require direct contact between [Troopers] Duncan and Waters in order for the latter's observations to enter into the probable cause determination." Id. at --, 2011 WL 48837291 at "4. Therefore, the court of appeals concluded that the police as a whole possessed probable cause at the time of the blood draws. See id. at --, 2011 WL 4837291 at *5,

T10 We granted certiorari to consider whether the fellow officer rule provided the police with probable cause to order the blood draws.

II. Standard of Review

111 In reviewing a suppression order, we defer to the trial court's findings of fact as long as they are supported by competent evidence. People v. Gutierrez, 222 P.3d 925, 931-82 (Colo.2009). We review the trial court's conclusions of law de novo. Id. at 931.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Peo v. Ciarcia
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2026
The People of the State of Colorado v. Sheron Mario Furness
2025 CO 16 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2025)
Peo v. Ryan
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2025
Peo v. Baldwin
Colorado Court of Appeals, 2025
Commonwealth v. Privette
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2023
The People of the State of Colorado v. Lamonte Xavier Smith
2022 CO 38 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2022)
State v. Guzman/Heckler
455 P.3d 485 (Oregon Supreme Court, 2019)
v. Allen
2019 CO 88 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2019)
People v. McKnight
2019 CO 36 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2019)
People v. Threlkel
2019 CO 18 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2019)
People v. Bailey
427 P.3d 821 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2018)
People v. McKnight
2017 COA 93 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2017)
People v. Zuniga
2016 CO 52 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2016)
People v. Swietlicki
2015 CO 67 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2015)
People v. Ackerman
2015 CO 27 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2015)
People v. Sotelo
2014 CO 74 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2014)
People v. Barry
2015 COA 4 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2014)
People v. Schaufele
2014 CO 43 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2014 CO 12, 320 P.3d 332, 2014 WL 616131, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grassi-v-people-colo-2014.