DocketNumber: No. CV 91 0391898S
Citation Numbers: 1992 Conn. Super. Ct. 461
Judges: MALONEY, J.
Filed Date: 1/22/1992
Status: Non-Precedential
Modified Date: 4/17/2021
Section
(1) Did the police officer have probable cause to arrest the person for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating CT Page 462 liquor?
(2) Was such person placed under arrest?
(3) Did such person refuse to submit to the test?
(4) Was such person operating the motor vehicle?
The statute further provides that after the hearing the commissioner shall reinstate the operator's license if any of the issues are found in the negative. Following the hearing in this case, the commissioner found all of the issues in the affirmative.
Certain facts are essentially undisputed. On January 20, 1991, the plaintiff was involved in a one-car accident on Interstate Route 91, northbound, in the Hartford area, when the vehicle he was driving hit a bridge abutment on the left side of the highway.1 Shortly afterward, an off-duty Hartford police officer apprehended the plaintiff as he was walking on the southbound side of the highway and returned him to the accident scene. The state police, who were investigating the accident, thereupon arrested the plaintiff on charges of evading responsibility, a violation of General Statutes
After arresting the plaintiff for evading responsibility and operating at an unreasonable speed, the state police transported him to the Hartford barracks. The police there administered the so-called "Field Performance (Sobriety) Tests", which, in their opinion, the plaintiff failed. The police then arrested the plaintiff on the charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, a violation of General Statute
The bases of the plaintiff's appeal, as set forth in his brief and at oral argument, are (1) that the commissioner erred in finding that the plaintiff refused to be tested when the evidence showed that he requested a blood test and only refused a breath test; and (2) that there was no probable cause for arresting the plaintiff for evading responsibility and, therefore, the police had no right to detain him while they followed up their suspicions of his drunk driving by administering the field tests at the state police barracks. Therefore, the plaintiff argues, his arrest on the drunk driving charge was illegal and all evidence obtained incidental to that arrest was inadmissible.
The plaintiff's claim with respect to his choice of the blood test cannot be sustained. The applicable statute, section
The plaintiff's claim with respect to the issue of probable cause also may not be sustained. Even assuming, arguendo, that there was no probable cause to arrest the plaintiff and take him into custody on the charge of evading responsibility, the circumstances of this case afforded ample justification for the investigatory detention of the plaintiff as a drunken driving suspect. Such detention is proper, even in the absence of probable cause, if the police have a reasonable and articulable suspicion that a person has committed or is about to commit a crime. State v. Lamme,
A further question is whether the police were entitled o take the plaintiff to the barracks, essentially in custody, where they administered the pre-arrest drunk driving tests. In CT Page 464 State v. Mitchell,
The United States Supreme Court has acknowledged that there may be "difficult line-drawing problems distinguishing an investigative stop from a de facto arrest. Obviously, if an investigative stop continues indefinitely, at some point it can no longer be justified as an investigative stop. But our cases impose no rigid time limitation on Terry stops." United States v. Sharpe, supra, 685. The court in Sharpe continued, setting forth the following test: "In assessing whether a detention is too long in duration to be justified as an investigative stop, we consider it appropriate to examine whether the police diligently pursued a means of investigation that was likely to confirm or dispel their suspicions quickly, during which time it was necessary to detain the defendant." Id., 686.
In the present case, evidence in the record most favorable to the plaintiff shows that the police took the plaintiff into custody at a approximately 11:40 p.m. and eventually arrested him on the drunk driving charge at 1:20 a.m., holding his for about one hour and forty minutes. At the time they took him into custody, they were on a busy highway, late at night, the road was slippery and, it may reasonably be inferred, the location was potentially hazardous. The plaintiff was injured and bleeding, and his vehicle was inoperable. The police accident report states that the plaintiff was taken to the barracks "(a)fter the scene was cleared." This involved having the vehicle towed from the scene by a commercial towing company. The police had reasonable grounds also to suspect that the plaintiff was intoxicated. Under those circumstances, the police were fully justified in removing the plaintiff from the scene and taking him to the barracks to continue their investigation even if they had not had probable cause already to arrest him on the evading responsibility charge.2 And, under these particular circumstances, the one hour and forty minute detention period was not unreasonable. The court finds, therefore, that there was substantial evidence in the record at the administrative hearing to support the conclusion that the police acted diligently and reasonably in pursuing their suspicions of the plaintiff's drunk driving and that they were justified in detaining the plaintiff as they did while they investigated. Indeed, under the circumstances of this case, it would have CT Page 465 been irresponsible for the police to have abandoned their investigation, leaving the plaintiff to fend for himself on the highway. It follows that the plaintiff's contention that his arrest on the drunk driving charge was illegal cannot be sustained.
For all of the above reasons, the appeal is dismissed.
MALONEY, J.