State v. Davis

Decision Date19 September 1986
Docket NumberNo. C0-85-1796,C0-85-1796
Citation393 N.W.2d 179
PartiesSTATE of Minnesota, Petitioner, Appellant, v. Russell Joseph DAVIS, Respondent.
CourtMinnesota Supreme Court

Syllabus by the Court

Police officer properly stopped motor vehicle on the basis of anonymous tip that driver had just driven through red light; officer had sufficient reason to conclude that tipster was credible and that she had obtained information in reliable way.

Edward P. Starr, City Atty., Michael F. Driscoll, Reyne M. Rofuth, Asst. City Attys., St. Paul, Hubert H. Humphrey, III, Atty. Gen., St. Paul, for appellant.

Phillip G. Villaume, St. Paul, for respondent.

Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument.

AMDAHL, Chief Justice.

We granted the petition of the state to review the 4-3 decision of the Court of Appeals in State v. Davis, 390 N.W.2d 4 (Minn.App.1986), which reversed the DWI conviction of Russell Joseph Davis on the ground that the stop which led to his arrest was an illegal stop based on a tip from an anonymous informant. Holding that the stop was legal, we reverse the Court of Appeals and reinstate the judgment of conviction.

At 2:12 a.m. on Saturday, April 6, 1985, St. Paul Police Officer John Cannefax was stopped on eastbound 11th Street at the intersection with Jackson waiting for the light to change. A vehicle southbound on Jackson--i.e., coming from the officer's left--slowed down and a female passenger leaned out the passenger door window and shouted, "The car behind us just ran the red light!" As she said this, she motioned toward a red Ford Maverick, the only car in view at that time. Officer Cannefax followed the Maverick and eventually stopped it. He did not observe any erratic driving before he stopped the car. Once he stopped the car he made observations which gave him probable cause to believe that Davis, the driver, was under the influence of alcohol. Davis submitted to a breath test, which showed he had a blood alcohol concentration of .19.

The trial court denied a motion to suppress on Fourth Amendment grounds. Davis then stipulated to the above facts and waived his right to a jury trial. The trial court found Davis guilty of DWI.

The Court of Appeals, in a 4-3 decision, reversed the trial court on the ground that the stop was illegal. The court ruled that our decision in Olson v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 371 N.W.2d 552 (Minn.1985), was controlling and it distinguished Marben v. State, Department of Public Safety, 294 N.W.2d 697 (Minn.1980). The dissenters argued that Marben controlled and distinguished Olson.

In Marben, a trooper parked on I-94 near an intersection in Stearns County received a CB radio report from an unidentified person who said that he was a trucker and that he could see the trooper's car. The caller said that a motorist had been tailgating him for 60 to 70 miles. We held that there was no problem with the caller's basis of knowledge. We also reasoned that the trucker could be believed because he apparently was a private citizen and because "due to the trucker's reference to the location of * * * [the trooper's] squad car and the vehicle in question, the trooper was able to verify that the trucker was in the area, and in close proximity to the subject car." 294 N.W.2d at 699.

In Olson, the officer on patrol received a dispatch that an anonymous person had called in and reported "possibly a drunken driver" driving westbound on Highway 55 from County Road 116 in a white Datsun with Minnesota license number EMN 880. The officer located the car, going eastbound on Highway 55, and followed it into a bar parking lot, then westbound onto Highway 55. He observed no erratic driving before stopping...

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    • United States
    • United States Appellate Court of Illinois
    • 18 Enero 2002
    ...875 P.2d 439, 440-41 (Okl. App.1994); People v. Willard 183 Cal. App.3d Supp. 5, 6-7, 228 Cal.Rptr. 895, 895-96 (1986); State v. Davis, 393 N.W.2d 179, 180-81 (Minn.1986); see also State v. Slater, 267 Kan. 694, 701, 986 P.2d 1038, 1043 (1999) ("Second on the scale of reliability are those ......
  • Welfare of G.M., Matter of
    • United States
    • Minnesota Supreme Court
    • 13 Marzo 1997
    ... ... A juvenile's statements made during a custodial interrogation were admissible when the juvenile failed to present evidence to rebut the state's showing by a fair preponderance of the evidence that the statements were voluntary ...         Ann McCaughn, Assistant State Public ... Shepherd, 420 N.W.2d at 890 (citing State v. Davis, 393 N.W.2d 179, 181 (Minn.1986)) ...         Ultimately, we must decide whether the information provided by an informant is reliable. To ... ...
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    • Minnesota Court of Appeals
    • 4 Agosto 2003
    ... ... State v. Davis, 393 N.W.2d 179, 181 (Minn.1986) (holding that tip provided by female passenger who leaned out of car window and, motioning to only car in view, shouted that car had just run red light was sufficiently reliable to justify investigative stop, even though officer did not see any improper driving ... ...
  • State v. McCloskey
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    • Minnesota Supreme Court
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    ... ... This informant was not a blame shifter but someone who simply came forward. Not only did the informant come forward but he/she met face-to-face with the sheriff. In State v. Davis, 393 N.W.2d 179 (Minn.1986), we upheld a stop based on information provided a police officer in a brief face-to-face confrontation ... with an unnamed tipster on the street. We said that by presenting herself to the police while in a car from which her identification might be traced, the ... ...
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