State v. Bjerke

• Decision Date: 01 July 1997
• Docket Number: No. 96-283-M,96-283-M
• Citation: 697 A.2d 1069
• Parties: STATE of Rhode Island, v. Robert J. BJERKE. P.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

Page 1069

697 A.2d 1069

STATE of Rhode Island, v. Robert J. BJERKE.

No. 96-283-M.P.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

July 1, 1997.

Aaron Weisman, Providence, Matthew C. Womble, for Plaintiff.

Kathleen Wyllie, David E. Revens, Warwick, for Defendant.

Before WEISBERGER, C.J., and LEDERBERG, BOURCIER and FLANDERS, JJ.

OPINION

BOURCIER, Justice.

This matter is before the Court pursuant to our order granting the state's petition for writ of certiorari. The state asks this Court to review a decision of the Administrative Adjudication Court Appeals Panel in which that court affirmed the decision of an administrative judge dismissing a violation issued against the defendant for refusal to submit to a chemical test pursuant to G.L.1956 § 31-27-2.1. The state contends that the Appeal Panel's decision contravenes traditional constitutional standards of law pertaining to search and seizure. We agree and quash the Appeal Panel's decision.

I

On April 27, 1995, at approximately 4 p.m., the Warwick police station received an anonymous telephone call reporting that the operator of a tan-colored Oldsmobile bearing license-plate number TV-536 was traveling on Airport Road near Post Road and was possibly intoxicated. On the basis of that call, a Warwick police officer was dispatched to investigate. While that officer was en route, a dispatcher at the Warwick police station checked the license-plate number of the reported vehicle and discovered that the vehicle registration had been suspended; the vehicle was in fact being driven in violation of G.L.1956 § 31-8-2. The investigating officer was informed of the suspension information.

Upon arriving at the Post Road area, the investigating officer located and stopped a tan-colored vehicle bearing the license-plate number TV-536. The officer, prior to stopping the vehicle, did not observe any erratic driving. However, having notice of the suspended registration for the vehicle, the officer approached the vehicle and asked the operator, Robert J. Bjerke (Bjerke or defendant) for his license, registration, and insurance. A check of Bjerke's driver's license revealed that it had been previously suspended. The officer then asked Bjerke where he was coming from and to where he was going. Bjerke indicated that he had just left work and was heading home. While speaking to Bjerke, the officer detected the odor of alcohol and noticed that Bjerke's speech was slurred and somewhat confused. Consequently he asked Bjerke to exit the vehicle to perform certain field sobriety tests. Bjerke complied, failed the tests, and was then placed under arrest for operating a motor vehicle, the registration of which had been previously suspended; for operating a vehicle after his license to do so had been previously suspended; and for suspicion of operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. Bjerke was advised at the scene of his constitutional rights and transported to the Warwick police station.

At the Warwick police station Bjerke was asked to submit to a chemical breath test, which he refused. He was then issued a Z-series violation for operating a motor vehicle after his license to do so had been suspended, in violation of G.L.1956 § 31-11-18, and an Administrative Adjudication Court (AAC) violation for operating a motor vehicle after its registration had been suspended in violation of § 31-8-2. He was also charged with refusing to submit to a chemical test in violation of § 31-27-2.1.

A hearing on the charges took place before a trial judge in the AAC on November 15, 1995, at which time the trial judge found Bjerke guilty on the charge of operating a vehicle after its registration had been suspended but dismissed the violation charging Bjerke with refusing to submit to a chemical test. The judge concluded that the police officer, in stopping the vehicle Bjerke was driving, did not have reasonable suspicion to justify a stop in order to investigate for driver intoxication. The trial judge did find, however, that reasonable suspicion had existed to justify the officer's stop on the basis of the suspended registration.

The state appealed the trial judge's dismissal of the breathalyzer refusal charge, and Bjerke appealed the decision sustaining the charge of operating a vehicle after its registration had been suspended. Both appeals were heard before an AAC Appeals Panel (the panel).

The panel affirmed the AAC trial judge's decision. In a per curiam decision, the panel reasoned that in the absence of other evidence, the anonymous telephone tip was insufficient to trigger reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle to investigate for intoxication. See Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990). The panel agreed with the trial judge that the state was required to produce additional independent evidence to corroborate the information given by the anonymous telephone caller before the police could have the requisite reasonable suspicion to perform an investigatory stop under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). Following the panel's decision, the state petitioned this Court for the writ of certiorari, which we granted on June 27, 1996.

The question posed to us by the state's petition requires an examination of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and its state analogue found in article 1, section 6 of the Rhode Island Constitution.

II

It is well established that whenever a person is detained by state authorities, even if briefly, the Fourth Amendment is implicated and the detention must be in conformance with the strictures of that amendment. See Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979); Terry, 392 U.S. at 18 n. 15, 88 S.Ct. at 1878 n. 15, 20 L.Ed.2d at 904 n. 15 ("the Fourth Amendment governs all intrusions by agents of the public upon personal security,"); see also State v. Halstead, 414 A.2d 1138, 1146 (R.I.1980). Accordingly, when the police stopped Bjerke in his automobile, that stop was subject to Fourth Amendment scrutiny. The parties dispute, however, whether the stop at issue was in keeping with the Fourth Amendment commands governing warrantless seizures.

In a case such as this, involving a warrantless stop and detention, this Court, like the United States Supreme Court, has recognized that reasonableness is the touchstone for distinguishing lawful from unlawful seizures. This process requires a balancing of the governmental interest in performing the seizure and the nature and the quality of the intrusion. See Prouse, 440 U.S. at 654, 99 S.Ct. at 1396, 59 L.Ed.2d at 667; Terry, 392 U.S. at 20-27, 88 S.Ct. at 1879-83, 20 L.Ed.2d at 905-09. In those cases when authorities seek to effect an arrest, such as where police transport an individual to a police station for questioning, the duration of the detention has been found reasonable only when the authorities can demonstrate a quantum of knowledge known as probable cause. See Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 10 L.Ed.2d 726 (1963); State v. Bennett, 430 A.2d 424 (R.I.1981); State v. Halstead, 414 A.2d 1138 (R.I.1980). Probable cause exists where a reasonable man of caution would believe a suspect had committed or is committing an offense. Bennett, 430 A.2d at 426-27; State v. Belcourt, 425 A.2d 1224, 1226 (R.I.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 842, 102 S.Ct. 154, 70 L.Ed.2d 127 (1981). However, when authorities only briefly detain an individual, whether on the sidewalk or in an automobile, this lesser intrusion is generally reasonable in situations in which authorities can demonstrate a lesser quantum of knowledge known as reasonable suspicion. Prouse, 440 U.S. at 663, 99 S.Ct. at 1401, 59 L.Ed.2d at 673; In re John N., 463 A.2d 174, 177 (R.I.1983); Halstead, 414 A.2d at 1145. Reasonable suspicion means the detaining authority can "point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant that intrusion." Terry, 392 U.S. at 21, 88 S.Ct. at 1879, 20 L.Ed.2d at 905; see also Halstead, 414 A.2d at 1146.

A

In this case the panel concluded that the officer's reliance upon the information furnished by the anonymous telephone caller concerning the probable intoxication of the driver of a tan Oldsmobile bearing registration-plate number TV-536 did not furnish reasonable suspicion that would permit the officer's stop of the vehicle and the detention of the defendant driver in order to determine his sobriety. We agree with this proposition generally. An anonymous tip without sufficient detail or corroboration will not permit even a brief stop. See Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. at 329-30, 110 S.Ct. at 2416, 110 L.Ed.2d at 308-09; In re John N., 463 A.2d at 177 (corroborated and detailed information justifies an investigatory stop). The panel's termination of its fact analysis at that point, however, we believe, misconceives our shared federal and state search and seizure jurisprudence.

The police officer in this case, by the time he observed the tan Oldsmobile, had received reliable information from the police department dispatcher that based upon a computer check, the registration for the vehicle, TV-536, being operated by Bjerke was known to have been previously suspended. The operation of an unregistered vehicle is a misdemeanor under § 31-8-2. Thus upon receiving that information, the police officer had clear evidence in plain view that defendant driver of the vehicle bearing the license plate TV-536 was committing a criminal offense. With this information the police officer had not only reasonable suspicion of criminal activity but probable cause that would justify a full stop. See Whren v. United States, --- U.S. ----, ----, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 1772, 135 L.Ed.2d 89, 95 (1996) ("As a general matter, the decision to stop an automobile is reasonable where the police have probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred."); State v. Soares, 648 A.2d...