Tuesday, August 15, 2006

How Drunk Is Drunk?

Jessica catches a good one:

Guy is weaving back and forth in his lane. Observant cop pulls him over to check for drunk driving. Turns out the guy is a 5 time drunk driver whose BAC is nearly three times the legal limit. Guy appeals. Nutty appeals court overturns the conviction, saying the cop violated his constitutional rights because it's not reasonable to develop a hunch that someone is driving drunk because they are weaving back and forth in their own lane.

From the decision, which will likely become enshrined in Ripley:

...Post’s slight deviations within one lane of travel, with nothing more, does not, in our view, reach that quantum of evidence necessary to make the officer’s hunch that Post might be intoxicated reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.

From here on, the LEO's will have to measure 'deviation,' we suppose. The Court has now determined that "suspicion" is not sufficient.

I suppose the LEO could have waited until Mr. Post killed someone....

1 comment:

aaron said...

hmmm. How Drunk is Drunk is a regular discussion among the young Catholics... how far is it a sin?