Martin v. DOT, Bureau of Driver Licensing

905 A.2d 438, 588 Pa. 429, 2006 Pa. LEXIS 1541, 2006 WL 2418943
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 22, 2006
Docket100 MAP 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by86 cases

This text of 905 A.2d 438 (Martin v. DOT, Bureau of Driver Licensing) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Martin v. DOT, Bureau of Driver Licensing, 905 A.2d 438, 588 Pa. 429, 2006 Pa. LEXIS 1541, 2006 WL 2418943 (Pa. 2006).

Opinions

OPINION

Justice CASTILLE.

This appeal arises from the suspension of appellant’s operating privilege for refusing to undergo chemical testing pursuant to the Implied Consent Law, 75 Pa.C.S. § 1547. The lower courts disagreed over the authority of a municipal police officer to invoke the Implied Consent Law outside the officer’s defined territorial jurisdiction, as provided in the Municipal Police Jurisdiction Act, 42 Pa.C.S. § 8951 et seq. (“MPJA” or “Act”). The trial court found that the officer lacked authority under the MPJA to pursue and arrest appellant in an adjoining jurisdiction; that the lack of authority rendered the officer’s invocation of the Implied Consent Law invalid; and, thus, that appellant’s operating privilege was not subject to suspension under the Implied Consent Law. A divided panel of the Commonwealth Court reversed, with the panel majority holding that the officer had acted within his MPJA authority in pursuing appellant into a neighboring jurisdiction, stopping her, and then invoking the Implied Consent Law. We agree with the trial court that the officer in the situation sub judice exceeded his authority under the Act and, therefore, we reverse the order below and reinstate the trial court’s order invalidating appellant’s license suspension.

The facts as found by the trial court, per the Honorable Edgar B. Bayley, are as follows: On November 27, 2003, at approximately 1:45 a.m., Hampden Township Police Officer James Sollenberger was on uniformed patrol in a marked Hampden police cruiser when he observed appellant’s vehicle on Trindle Road in Hampden Township, Cumberland County. Believing appellant to be exceeding the posted 40 mile per hour speed limit, Officer Sollenberger followed her at a steady distance for approximately 100 yards, clocking her speed (by use of his own speedometer) at 53 miles per hour. Appellant then reduced her speed and, while still on Trindle Road, [432]*432entered the neighboring Borough of Camp Hill. Appellant properly signaled a right-hand turn and then made a wide right turn onto April Drive. There was no other traffic except the police cruiser on either Trindle Road or April Drive at the time and, at the point of appellant’s turn, there were several large potholes on the right berm of Trindle Road and the right driving lane of April Drive.

As appellant continued in the right lane on April Drive, Officer Sollenberger, now in Camp Hill, turned onto April Drive and activated his patrol car’s lights to initiate a traffic stop. Appellant stopped her car and got out. The officer exited his vehicle and asked appellant to get back inside her car, and she complied with his request. The officer then asked appellant to produce her driver’s license, vehicle registration and proof of insurance, which she provided after some initial difficulty in locating the documents. During this exchange, Officer Sollenberger smelled an odor of alcohol coming from inside appellant’s car and noted that appellant had red, bloodshot eyes and slurred her speech. The officer then requested that appellant exit her car; when she did, he detected the odor of alcohol coming from her person. Officer Sollenberger asked appellant to perform field sobriety tests, whereupon she swore at him and started walking toward a nearby house.' The officer ordered appellant to stop, but she continued walking, causing him to physically seize appellant and arrest her for driving under the influence (“DUI”).1 He placed appellant in his patrol car and drove her to the booking cénter where he read to her instructions relevant to the Implied Consent Law from a DL-26 form.2 Appellant refused to provide two valid breath test samples, which was deemed a refusal to submit to chemical testing.

On December 16, 2003, appellee Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing (the “Bureau”) informed [433]*433appellant that her operating privilege was being suspended for one year, as a result of her refusal to submit to chemical testing. Appellant filed a statutory appeal to the trial court challenging Officer Sollenberger’s authority to enforce Section 1547 of the Motor Vehicle Code (commonly referred to as the Implied Consent Law), outside his territorial jurisdiction. The dispute arose from the statute’s language regarding the role of a “police officer:”

(a) General rule. — Any person who drives, operates or is in actual physical control of the movement of a motor vehicle in this Commonwealth shall be deemed to have given consent to one or more chemical tests of breath, blood or urine for the purpose of determining the alcoholic content of blood or the presence of a controlled substance if a police officer has reasonable grounds to believe the person to have been driving, operating or in actual physical control of the movement of a motor vehicle:
(1) while under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance or both....

75 Pa.C.S. § 1547 (emphasis added).3,4 The Motor Vehicle Code defines a police officer as: “A natural person authorized by law to make arrests for violations of law.” Id. § 102. This [434]*434case centers on whether Officer Sollenberger was authorized to act as a police officer when he arrested appellant in a neighboring jurisdiction and requested that she submit to chemical testing under the Implied Consent Law.

The trial court sustained appellant’s appeal and reversed her license suspension, finding that Officer Sollenberger lacked statutory authority to stop and arrest appellant outside the officer’s territorial jurisdiction and, therefore, he was not then lawfully acting as a police officer for purposes of the Implied Consent Law. The court reasoned that, as a municipal police officer, Officer Sollenberger had authority beyond the territorial limits of his jurisdiction only in those instances specifically set forth in the MPJA. The MPJA, to the extent relevant to this appeal, defines a municipal police officer’s extra-territorial jurisdiction as follows:

(a) General rule. — Any duly employed municipal police officer who is within this Commonwealth, but beyond the territorial limits of his primary jurisdiction, shall have the power and authority to enforce the laws of this Commonwealth or otherwise perform the functions of that office as if enforcing those laws or performing those functions within the territorial limits of his primary jurisdiction in the following cases:
* * * *
(2) Where the officer is in hot pursuit of any person for any offense which was committed, or which he has probable cause to believe was committed, within his primary jurisdiction and for which offense the officer continues in fresh pursuit of the person after the commission of the offense.
* * * *
5) Where the officer is on official business and views an offense, or has probable cause to believe that an offense has been committed, and makes a reasonable effort to identify himself as a police officer and which offense is a felony, misdemeanor, breach of the peace or other act [435]*435which presents an immediate clear and present danger to persons or property.

42 Pa.C.S. § 8953.

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Bluebook (online)
905 A.2d 438, 588 Pa. 429, 2006 Pa. LEXIS 1541, 2006 WL 2418943, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martin-v-dot-bureau-of-driver-licensing-pa-2006.