One Free Swerve
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Virginia case which held that officers will no longer be allowed to pull over suspected drunk drivers based solely on a caller’s tip. The court ruled that officers must personally observe suspicious behavior before stopping a driver for a DUI investigation. As the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday, this essentially means that impaired drivers are entitled to “one free swerve” before they can be pulled over by the police.
The Supreme Court’s ruling isn’t formal and doesn’t require other states to follow Virginia’s lead. It is, however, likely to invite more legal challenges to DUIs that are initiated by citizen tips.
Currently, Los Angeles and a host of other California cities, use electronic roadside message boards located on their freeways to tell drivers to “Call 911 to report drunk drivers”. Although California may still encourage its drivers to report suspected DUIs, a formal ruling on this case would make it so that those calls will not be enough to satisfy the Constitution’s requirement for a reasonable search.
Most states, including California, presently allow these types of searches, so long as the observed vehicle matches the description given by the caller.
