People v. Bolta
| Decision Date | 06 June 2012 |
| Citation | 2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 04355,945 N.Y.S.2d 423,96 A.D.3d 773 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, etc., respondent, v. Edwin BOLTA, appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Michael S. Bromberg, Sag Harbor, N.Y., for appellant.
Thomas J. Spota, District Attorney, Riverhead, N.Y. (Ronnie Jane Lamm of counsel), for respondent.
DANIEL D. ANGIOLILLO, J.P., RANDALL T. ENG, PLUMMER E. LOTT, and LEONARD B. AUSTIN, JJ.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Suffolk County (Kahn, J.), rendered September 24, 2010, convicting him of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the first degree (two counts), and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence. The appeal brings up for review the denial, after a hearing (Weber, J.), of that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress physical evidence and his statements to law enforcement officials.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
The County Court properly denied that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress physical evidence and his statements to law enforcement officials, made on the ground that the officers did not have reasonable suspicion to pursue and stop him. Upon the officers' proper approach of the defendant's vehicle, parked six feet into the street and facing the wrong direction, its engine running and its headlights interfering with the visibility of oncoming traffic ( see People v. Ocasio, 85 N.Y.2d 982, 985, 629 N.Y.S.2d 161, 652 N.E.2d 907;People v. Benjamin, 268 A.D.2d 486, 701 N.Y.S.2d 641;People v. Citron, 255 A.D.2d 452, 681 N.Y.S.2d 57), the defendant's actions in exiting the driver's seat, leaving the engine running and the headlights on, and walking toward a house in a stumbling fashion gave the officers a founded suspicion that criminality was afoot, triggering the common-law right of inquiry ( see People v. De Bour, 40 N.Y.2d 210, 223, 386 N.Y.S.2d 375, 352 N.E.2d 562). The testifying officer's actions thereafter only interfered with the defendant “to the extent necessary to gain explanatory information” and did not constitute a forcible seizure requiring reasonable suspicion ( id. at 223, 386 N.Y.S.2d 375, 352 N.E.2d 562;People v. Watts, 309 A.D.2d 1256, 1257, 764 N.Y.S.2d 737 [internal quotation marks omitted]; cf. People v. Moore, 6 N.Y.3d 496, 500–501, 814 N.Y.S.2d 567, 847 N.E.2d 1141). The officer's inquiry led to information and observationsthat provided him with probable cause to arrest the defendant for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and with a suspended license.
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