The tip must be sufficiently reliable to allow the stop.
If you have been stopped on suspicion of driving under the influence (DUI), you may think that it is because the police have observed you driving in a particular way. Unfortunately, this may not be the case. According to a DUI defense lawyer San Bernardino, CA, the police can rely on anonymous tips to stop you on suspicion of driving under the influence. This opens up the possibility that you could be reported for any type of bad driving — even if you are not driving under the influence — leading to a traffic stop.
Typically, a police officer needs reasonable suspicion that you have committed a crime or that a crime is being committed in order to stop you or to pull over your vehicle. For DUIs, this generally means that the officer has observed you getting into your car after drinking or saw a pattern of driving behavior that indicated that you may be under the influence. However, in 2014, the United States Supreme Court decided a case that arose out of California, Navarette v. California — finding that an anonymous tip can give a law enforcement officer the required reasonable suspicion to stop a driver on suspicion of driving under the influence.
In Navarette, two brothers, Lorenzo and Jose Prado Navarette, were driving in a pickup truck on Highway 1 near Fort Bragg when they were pulled over by California Highway Patrol (CHP). The CHP officers had received an anonymous tip that they had nearly been run off the road by the truck, and had provided the license plate number. CHP pulled the truck over based on this tip. When the CHP officers approached the truck, they smelled a strong odor of marijuana and later discovered four bags of marijuana inside of the truck.
After the brothers were arrested for transporting marijuana, they filed a motion to suppress the evidence (to keep it out of the court), arguing that the officers lacked reasonable suspicion needed to stop them. They claimed that this violated their constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The trial court judge ruled against them. The brothers then pled guilty and were sentenced to 90 days in jail, but appealed the judge’s ruling on their motion to suppress.
The California Court of Appeals agreed with the trial court, finding that the anonymous tipster had informed the police of a situation that was dangerous enough to justify the stop even without direct corroboration of other illegal activity. The brothers then appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held that an anonymous tip is, by itself, enough to justify law enforcement pulling someone over on suspicion of driving under the influence. If the tip bears “sufficient indicia of reliability,” officers do not have to observe driving that would lead them to believe that the driver was operating under the influence. In this case, it was enough that the caller made the tip at the time that the alleged incident happened and that they used 911, knowing that it could be traced.
Although it seems unfair, the law on this matter is clear. Anonymous tips can be used as the basis for a DUI stop. If you have been charged with a California DUI, you will need a seasoned DUI defense lawyer San Bernardino, CA to represent you. The Chambers Law Firm can help. Contact us today at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com to schedule a free initial consultation.
