DocketNumber: No. MV 97-185563
Citation Numbers: 1998 Conn. Super. Ct. 2537
Judges: SCHUMAN, JUDGE.
Filed Date: 3/10/1998
Status: Non-Precedential
Modified Date: 4/18/2021
Trooper Smith then exited his vehicle and approached the driver's side of the suspect vehicle. He observed that the driver, who the parties agree was the defendant Rand Perry, looked disheveled, had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, and spoke in a slurred manner. The defendant stated that he was dropping off a friend. The defendant had difficulty finding his license and registration. The defendant first stated that he had not been drinking, then stated that he had had two glasses of wine and a beer. The trooper then asked the defendant to submit to field sobriety tests. The defendant performed poorly on the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, jumbled numbers on a finger counting test, and also initially jumbled letters on an alphabet test. In the trooper's opinion, the defendant was under the influence of alcohol. The trooper then placed the defendant under arrest and the defendant subsequently submitted to various blood alcohol tests.
The defendant moves to suppress all evidence, including observations, statements, field tests, and chemical tests, obtained by the trooper after he approached the defendant's vehicle. The defendant initially claims that there was no reasonable suspicion that would have justified stopping the defendant in the driveway off Bingham Street. This Court need not address whether reasonable suspicion existed because it finds that the trooper did not at that time stop or, in constitutional terms, seize the defendant within the meaning of the state or federal constitutions.
Our Supreme Court has adopted a definition of "seizure" under the state constitution that is somewhat broader than that employed by the United States Supreme Court under the federal constitution. "A person [is defined] as `seized' under our state constitution when by means of physical force or a show of CT Page 2539 authority, his freedom of movement is restrained . . . In determining whether a seizure has occurred, so as to invoke the protections of our state constitution . . . a court is to consider whether in view of all the circumstances surrounding the incident, a reasonable person would have believed that he was not free to leave . . . Whether there has been such a seizure in an individual case is a question of fact." State v. Hill,
In the present case, Trooper Smith did not exercise any "physical force or . . . show of authority" to stop the defendant. Id. at 87. Here, as in State v. Hill,
Of course, there can be no dispute that, when the trooper eventually placed the defendant under arrest, probable cause was necessary. The defendant's slurred speech, alcoholic breath, disheveled appearance, difficulty in finding his license and registration, admissions to having been drinking, and poor performance on the field sobriety tests, as well as the trooper's opinion at the time that the defendant was under the influence, when viewed in the entirety, provided ample probable cause to CT Page 2540 arrest for operating under the influence. See State v. Stevens,
The motion to suppress is denied.
Carl J. Schuman Judge, Superior Court