State v. Washington
| Decision Date | 23 January 1997 |
| Citation | 296 N.J.Super. 569,687 A.2d 343 |
| Parties | STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Gregory A. WASHINGTON, Defendant-Respondent. |
| Court | New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division |
Ronald A. Epstein, Salem County Prosecutor, for plaintiff-appellant (Gregory G. Waterston, Assistant Prosecutor, on the brief).
Mazzoni, Marcolongo & Hughes, for defendant-respondent (Lee J. Hughes, Vineland, on the brief).
Before Judges MUIR, Jr., KLEINER and COBURN.
The opinion of the court was delivered by
MUIR, Jr., J.A.D.
The State appeals from an order suppressing two breathalyzer readings of .29 and .28 that resulted from samples given by defendant after his arrest for driving while under the influence of intoxicating beverages (DWI). N.J.S.A. 39:4-50.1. The appeal's focus is on whether the officer's stop of defendant's automobile was objectively reasonable based on his community caretaking function. The Municipal Court judge found the officer's testimony credible and denied the motion to suppress. On de novo appeal, a Superior Court judge, making the same fact findings and giving deference to the Municipal Court judge's credibility rulings, granted the motion to suppress. The Superior Court judge concluded there was "not sufficient evidence to give the officer a basis to stop the vehicle." We now reverse.
The evidence relied upon by both judges discloses that on April 17, 1995, around 12:20 a.m., the arresting officer was operating his radar from a stationary position in a 45 mile per hour business zone in Pennsville Township when he observed an automobile driven by defendant "weaving within his lane of travel." The radar clocked the automobile at 36 miles per hour. Given the slow speed and the weaving, the officer pulled out and followed defendant. During the next quarter to one-half mile, defendant maintained the slow speed and continued weaving. At one point, the right tires of defendant's automobile crossed over from the travel portion onto the shoulder portion of the roadway about a "tire's width." The officer activated his overhead lights. Defendant "continue[d] to ... either come to a slow stop or he continued to travel for a short period." The officer subsequently arrested defendant on a DWI charge.
The Superior Court judge concluded that weaving in the same lane of travel at a speed 9 miles per hour below the limit evidenced no violation of the law and, therefore, the officer had no reasonably objective basis to stop defendant's car. We disagree.
Police officers have a community caretaking function. That function has its source in the ubiquity of the automobile and the dynamic, differential situations police officers are confronted with to promote driver safety. See United States v. Rodriguez-Morales, 929 F.2d 780, 784-86 (1st Cir.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1030, 112 S.Ct. 868, 116 L.Ed.2d 774 (1992). It finds support in the premise that abnormal operation of a motor vehicle establishes a reasonably objective basis to justify a motor vehicle stop. See State v. Martinez, 260 N.J.Super. 75, 78, 615 A.2d 279 (App....
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