Hoekstra v. Commissioner of Public Safety

839 N.W.2d 536, 2013 WL 6152321, 2013 Minn. App. LEXIS 103
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 25, 2013
DocketNo. A13-0682
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 839 N.W.2d 536 (Hoekstra v. Commissioner of Public Safety) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hoekstra v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 839 N.W.2d 536, 2013 WL 6152321, 2013 Minn. App. LEXIS 103 (Mich. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

SCHELLHAS, Judge.

Appellant challenges his driver’s hcense revocation, arguing that the police lacked a reasonable, articulable suspicion to justify a traffic stop under Minn.Stat. § 169.64, subd. 10(a)(2). We affirm.

FACTS

Appellant Joseph Hoekstra pleaded guilty to fourth-degree driving while impaired under Minn.Stat. § 169A.20, subd. 1(1) (2010), and the district court convicted him of that offense. Respondent Minnesota Commissioner of Public Safety disqualified Hoekstra from holding a commercial driver’s hcense, and Hoekstra petitioned for judicial review, arguing that his disqualification was the result of an unlawful traffic stop. Hoekstra also moved to consolidate his case with “the Intoxilyzer Source Code appeal.”

At the implied-consent hearing, Minnesota State Patrol Trooper Casey Meagher testified as follows. On the evening of December 2, 2011, Trooper Meagher was in Meeker County driving an unmarked patrol car for “a safe and sober detail” focused on making “DUI stops and DUI arrests.” While traveling on Highway 12 behind a pickup truck, he saw the truck’s tail lamps, brake hghts, and left-turn signal activate and the truck turn left onto Highway 24. The truck pulled onto the right shoulder of Highway 24 and either stopped or nearly stopped. Although Trooper Meagher saw no improper driving, he pulled behind the truck to determine whether the driver needed assistance. Trooper Meagher activated his rear emergency lights, believing that the truck’s driver could not see them.

The truck then pulled back onto the road and, as it did, Trooper Meagher observed “covers over the top of the tail[538]*538lights” on the truck. The covers consisted of “adhesive” “solid plastic” that went “over the top of th[e] taillight lens.” The covers were after-market accessories with horizontal plastic stripes “every inch or inch and a half ... going from one side of the taillight lens to the other side as a decorative cover over the top” of the lens. According to Trooper Meagher, the covers reduce the tail lamps’ light and make the tail lamps “blend in more with the vehicle.” Trooper Meagher activated his vehicle’s overhead emergency lights, and the truck pulled back over to the right shoulder and stopped. Trooper Meagher approached the truck and ultimately arrested Hoeks-tra for driving while under the influence of alcohol.

Hoekstra testified that the tail-lamp coverings on his truck were made of hard plastic, that they “block[ed] portions” of the tail lamps, and that they were on the tail lamps when he purchased the used truck approximately two months befoi'e his arrest. After his arrest, he attempted to remove the coverings but was unable to do so, stating that he has experience replacing headlamps or tail lamps but that these coverings “don’t come off.” He explained: “I struck a screwdriver in there and tried to get between the taillight and the trim.... I ... tr[ied] to pry them off but it’ll ... take [the] lens and everything right off, it’ll break the taillight.”

The district court rejected Hoekstra’s challenge to the validity of the traffic stop, reasoning that Trooper Meagher had a reasonable, articulable suspicion that Hoekstra violated Minn.Stat. § 169.64, subd. 10(a)(2)’s tail-lamp-cover prohibition. But the court stayed Hoekstra’s case for the duration of “the Intoxilyzer Source Code appeal.” After the supreme court filed its opinion in In re Source Code Evidentiary Hearings in Implied Consent Matters, 816 N.W.2d 525 (Minn.2012), the district court denied Hoekstra’s petition to rescind his license revocation, reasoning that the supreme court, in In re Source Code, “effectively denied” Hoekstra’s remaining challenge to the license revocation.

This appeal follows.

ISSUE

Does the meaning of “covers” in Minn. Stat. § 169.64, subd. 10(a), include equipment or material that only partially covers a tail lamp?

ANALYSIS

“The United States and Minnesota Constitutions protect ‘[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.’ ” State v. Diede, 795 N.W.2d 836, 842 (Minn.2011) (quoting U.S. Const, amend. IV and citing Minn. Const, art. I, § 10). “Evidence obtained as a result of a seizure without reasonable suspicion must be suppressed.” Id.; see also Ascher v. Comm’r of Pub. Safety, 527 N.W.2d 122, 125 (Minn.App.1995) (noting that “the exclusionary rule applies to evidence obtained from an unconstitutional checkpoint” (citing Ascher v. Comm’r of Pub. Safety, 505 N.W.2d 362 (Minn.App.1993), aff'd, 519 N.W.2d 183 (Minn.1994))), review denied (Minn. Mar. 21, 1995).

“[A] police officer ... [may] stop and temporarily seize a person to investigate that person for criminal wrongdoing if the officer reasonably suspects that person of criminal activity.” Diede, 795 N.W.2d at 842 (quotation omitted); see Berge v. Comm’r of Pub. Safety, 374 N.W.2d 730, 732 (Minn.1985) (applying reasonable-suspicion standard to license-revocation proceeding). “The reasonable-suspicion standard is not high,” Diede, 795 N.W.2d at 843 (quotation omitted), and “is less de[539]*539manding than probable cause or a preponderance of the evidence,” State v. Smith, 814 N.W.2d 346, 352 (Minn.2012) (quotation omitted). An appellate court “review[s] de novo a district court’s determination of reasonable suspicion of illegal activity” and “accept[s] the ... court’s factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous.” Smith, 814 N.W.2d at 350.

The district court concluded that Trooper Meagher lawfully stopped Hoeks-tra’s pickup truck based on reasonable, articulable suspicion that Hoekstra violated Minn.Stat. § 169.64, subd. 10(a)(2), by operating his motor vehicle with tail-lamp coverings. See Minn.Stat. § 169.64, subd. 10(a)(2) (prohibiting “operation of] a motor vehicle fitted with or otherwise having equipment or material that covers a headlamp, tail lamp, or reflector”). Hoekstra argues that Trooper Meagher lacked reasonable, articulable suspicion of that offense. We disagree.

“Generally, if an officer observes a violation of a traffic law, no matter how insignificant the traffic law, that observation forms the requisite particularized and objective basis for conducting a traffic stop.” State v. Anderson, 683 N.W.2d 818, 823 (Minn.2004) (citing State v. George, 557 N.W.2d 575, 578 (Minn.1997)). Trooper Meagher’s testimony suggests that Hoeks-tra’s tail-lamp coverings are prohibited by Minn.Stat. § 169.64, subd. 10(a). Trooper Meagher testified that, before stopping Hoekstra’s truck, he observed “covers over the top of the taillights” on the truck.

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839 N.W.2d 536, 2013 WL 6152321, 2013 Minn. App. LEXIS 103, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoekstra-v-commissioner-of-public-safety-minnctapp-2013.