State v. Gates

145 So. 3d 288, 2014 WL 1810106, 2014 La. LEXIS 1139
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMay 7, 2014
DocketNo. 2013-KK-1422
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 145 So. 3d 288 (State v. Gates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Gates, 145 So. 3d 288, 2014 WL 1810106, 2014 La. LEXIS 1139 (La. 2014).

Opinion

CLARK, Justice.

hThe defendant in this criminal matter is charged with DWI-3rd offense. The trial judge granted his motion to suppress evidence obtained in connection with a traffic stop by a police officer who was outside his jurisdiction. The court of appeal affirmed the trial court’s ruling, based on factors used to determine the constitutional reasonableness of an officer acting outside of his jurisdiction.

Although we find the factors set forth in the appellate court’s test should be considered in connection with the totality of the circumstances surrounding a traffic stop to determine reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment, we hold there is no constitutional or statutory basis for the specific requirements relied upon by the trial court and court of appeal. After our review, we hold the traffic stop was consti[290]*290tutionally reasonable, vacate the trial court’s judgment and remand to the trial court for further proceedings.

FACTS

The following evidence was adduced at the hearing on the defendant’s motion to suppress. At approximately 9 p.m. on November 11, 2011, Officer Brian Bell of the Haughton Police Department was sitting in his personal patrol car on a service road on the northeast side of the intersection of Highways 157 and 3227, adjacent to 1-20. He was on duty and within city limits. From this vantage point, Officer Bell could observe traffic exiting the interstate and the traffic light at 12the off-ramp for 1-20 and Hwy. 157, as well as the traffic light at the intersection of Highways 157 and 3227.

While Officer Bell sat observing traffic, a small white SUV drove up immediately next to him. The SUV’s occupants, a man and a woman costumed in white face paint, told Officer Bell they were almost run off the road while traveling on 1-20. They told Officer Bell the offending vehicle was a blue-colored pick-up truck, possibly a Chevy, which just went eastbound on Hwy. 3227.1 Officer Bell could have obtained the names and addresses of the couple, or taken down the SUV’s license plate, but he did not. Despite the couple’s costumed appearance, nothing led Officer Bell to believe the couple was impaired, and he decided to immediately respond to the information they related to him.

Hwy. 3227 is situated between Highways 157 and 164, and runs in and out of the city limits of Haughton. From the intersection of Highways 157 and 3227, the city limits extend for approximately half a mile toward the east along Hwy. 3227. ■ The next quarter of a mile is outside city limits. About a mile further along is inside city limits. Hwy. 3227 then runs into Hwy. 164, which is situated in a north/south direction. The intersection of Hwy. 3227 and Hwy. 164 is outside Haughton city limits.

Officer Bell traveled east on Hwy. 3227, searching for a vehicle matching the description given to him by the couple in the SUV. At the intersection of Highways 3227 and 164, which is just outside Haughton city limits, he saw a dark-colored pick-up truck traveling south on Hwy. 164 about 200-300 feet away. Officer Bell could see the truck was straddling the double yellow center line of the highway, and could see the headlights of an approaching car from underneath the truck. Believing the truck needed to be stopped for the safety of the public, and possibly for the safety of the driver who might need medical attention, Officer Bell ^followed the truck down Hwy. 164 and speeded to catch up.

Officer Bell approached the truck within 2-3 minutes, just as the highway started to curve. Officer Bell saw oncoming traffic pass the truck, after which the truck, while negotiating the curve, swung into the left hand lane for oncoming traffic. At that point, Officer Bell radioed the Bossier Parish Sheriffs Office to notify them of his location and his intention to make a traffic stop of the truck.

Officer Bell watched the truck swing back into the proper lane of travel and then further to the right, turning onto a side road known as Boomtown Road. Officer Bell saw the truck swing into the oncoming travel lane of Boomtown Road, then back into the proper lane, then arcing onto the right shoulder of the road, coming to rest immediately in front of the stop sign at the intersection of Boomtown Road and Hwy. 614.

[291]*291As Officer Bell activated his police lights, the defendant emerged from the truck and walked to the back of his truck toward Officer Bell’s vehicle. Officer Bell’s vehicle was a blue 2007 Crown Victoria with the words “Police Officer” on the doors from the middle of the front door to the middle of the back door. The automobile was equipped with three settings of police emergency lights. The first setting lit up the rear deck of the vehicle. The second setting activated solid blue strobe lights on the front of the side mirrors. The third setting turned on a flashing light in the center on the inside of the car plus two clear strobe lights in the headlights. There are no lights on the top of the vehicle.

Officer Bell claims he did not activate any of the police lights to indicate to the truck’s driver to pull over while his vehicle was moving. Instead, he claimed he activated all three settings of the police emergency lights right before he got out of his car, after both cars were stopped. Once the police lights are activated, the police vehicle’s video camera, which is on continuously, backs up for a certain amount of time and then continues recording until turned off.

14Officer Bell approached the truck’s driver, the defendant John Emmitt Gates, and asked whether he required medical attention. When Mr. Gates denied requiring such attention, the officer asked Mr. Gates for his driver’s license and told him to sit on the front of the police vehicle. Officer Bell told Mr. Gates they needed to wait for a sheriffs deputy to arrive. Officer Bell refrained from asking Mr. Gates any questions or engaging in interrogation as to what Mr. Gates had done earlier that night or whether he was driving while impaired.

Mr. Gates claims he was traveling southbound on Hwy. 164 when he saw blue strobe lights on the sides of a car behind him. He turned off onto Boomtown Road because he thought the lights indicated he was being followed by the police. He assumed the police wanted him to stop.

Within 5-10 minutes, Deputy Orr of the Bossier Parish Sheriffs Department arrived. Officer Bell gave Mr. Gates’ driver’s license to Deputy Orr. Deputy Orr’s report states Office Bell told the deputy he stopped the defendant for improper lane use on Hwy. 164. After administering a field sobriety test to Mr. Gates, Deputy Orr arrested Mr. Gates for DWL

A DVD of the video recording was entered into evidence as a joint exhibit at the suppression hearing. Officer Bell testified the video recording was an accurate representation of the events. The video recording shows the police vehicle approaching a truck traveling on a two-lane highway. After an on-coming car passes the truck, the truck swerves into the on-coming lane as it negotiates a slight curve. The truck resumes travel in the proper lane, then swings over to the right to exit the highway onto a small side road, presumably Boomtown Road. The truck is initially in the left or on-coming travel lane of the side road, but then corrects back into the proper lane before making a wide arc to the right, ending up with the driver’s side of the truck directly in front of a stop sign and the passenger side of the truck slightly off the road. Lights from the police vehicle are activated just as |sthe driver of the truck gets out.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
145 So. 3d 288, 2014 WL 1810106, 2014 La. LEXIS 1139, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gates-la-2014.