(Download) "People V. Carlson" by Colorado Supreme Court * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: People V. Carlson
- Author : Colorado Supreme Court
- Release Date : January 30, 1984
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 60 KB
Description
We granted certiorari to review a decision of the district court affirming a county court ruling suppressing visual observations and other evidence obtained by a police officer after stopping the defendant-motorist, Mark Gus Carlson, on suspicion of a traffic violation. The district court held that because the police officer did not have probable cause to arrest the defendant for driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor and because there was no evidence of a hazard to the officer's safety from either the defendant or passing traffic, the officer could not lawfully order the defendant to step out of his car and walk to the rear of the vehicle. Such order, in the district court's view, constituted an illegal seizure of the defendant's person, thereby rendering inadmissible any later-acquired evidence resulting from the seizure, including the officer's observations of the defendant during roadside sobriety testing. We conclude that a police officer in the course of a valid traffic stop may order the driver to get out of the car and walk to the rear of the vehicle without violating the federal or state proscription against unconstitutional searches and seizures. We accordingly reverse the order of the district court and remand the case for further proceedings on the issue of whether the defendant voluntarily consented to roadside sobriety testing.