FIFTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL

STATE OF FLORIDA

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Case No. 5D2023-1668

LT Case No. 2022-CT-003363 

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STATE OF FLORIDA, 

Appellant, 

v.

CHRISTOPHER JOHN SHELDON,

JR., 

Appellee. 

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On appeal from the County Court for Hernando County. 

Kurt E. Hitzemann, Judge. 

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Kristen L. 

Davenport, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, 

for Appellant. 

Jeffrey P. Cario and Kimberly Scarano, of Jeffrey P. Cario, P.A., 

Brooksville, for Appellee. 

October 8, 2024 

MACIVER, J. 

The State of Florida appeals an order granting Appellee’s 

motion to suppress evidence in which the trial court found that to 

initiate a valid stop, a law enforcement officer must have probable 

cause to believe that the defendant has committed a traffic 
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infraction or reasonable suspicion that the defendant has 

committed a crime. 

The evidence at the suppression hearing was that the 

Florida Highway Patrol trooper observed Appellee weaving several 

times over the fog line while driving northbound on Highway 19 in 

Hernando County around two o’clock in the morning. The trooper 

testified that he initiated the traffic stop to conduct a “welfare 

check” because he was concerned the driver was ill, impaired, 

sleepy, or having mechanical issues. The trooper’s bodycam video, 

which captured thirty seconds prior to the trooper activating his 

lights, showed at least two instances in which Appellee’s vehicle 

swerved over the fog line. The trooper testified that he observed 

Appellee’s vehicle weaving multiple times, and some of those 

instances occurred prior to the video being activated. The trial 

court found there was “nothing talismanic about the words ‘welfare 

check’” and granted the motion to suppress. We agree with the 

State that this was error. 

Welfare checks fall under the “community caretaking 

doctrine,” an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s search warrant 

requirement, which recognizes the duty of police officers to ensure 

the safety and welfare of the citizenry at large. Taylor v. State, 326 

So. 3d 115, 117 (Fla. 1st DCA 2021). Under the welfare check 

exception, a “legitimate concern for the safety of the motoring 

public can warrant a brief investigatory stop to determine whether 

a driver is ill, tired, or driving under the influence in situations 

less suspicious than that required for other types of criminal 

behavior.” Agreda v. State, 152 So. 3d 114, 116 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014)

(quoting State, Dep’t of High. Saf. & Motor Veh. v. DeShong, 603 

So. 2d 1349, 1352 (Fla. 2d DCA 1992)); see also State v. Rodriguez, 

904 So. 2d 594, 598 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005) (stop may be justified even 

in absence of traffic infraction when vehicle is being operated in 

unusual manner causing legitimate concern for safety of the 

public). The investigatory stop must still be based on specific 

articulable facts demonstrating that the stop was necessary to 

protect the public. Dep’t of High. Saf. & Motor Veh. v. Morrical, 

262 So. 3d 865, 867 (Fla. 5th DCA 2019). 

Contrary to the trial court’s struggle with this concept, 

Florida law is clear that an officer is justified in stopping a vehicle 
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even in the absence of a traffic infraction when the vehicle is being 

operated in an unusual manner causing legitimate concern for the 

safety of the public. See e.g., Yanes v. State, 877 So. 2d 25 (Fla. 5th 

DCA 2004) (police officer’s observation of vehicle crossing fog line 

three times in space of one mile provided reasonable suspicion 

sufficient to justify vehicle stop, irrespective of whether anyone 

was endangered by such conduct, where nature of vehicle’s 

abnormal movement caused officer to suspect that driver was 

impaired or otherwise unfit to drive); Ndow v. State, 864 So. 2d 

1248 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004) (police officer’s suspicion that motorist 

may have been driving while impaired was reasonable and 

investigatory stop warranted, where car behind police vehicle had 

green light at intersection but sat through light’s entire cycle, car 

slowed down in apparent effort not to pass police vehicle, officer 

turned into motel to let car pass, and officer observed upon exiting 

motel that car had pulled over to side of road and occupants were 

trading places); State v. Carrillo, 506 So. 2d 495 (Fla. 5th DCA 

1987) (weaving within lane five times within one-quarter mile 

sufficient to establish reasonable suspicion of impairment); Esteen 

v. State, 503 So. 2d 356 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987) (weaving within lane

and driving slower than posted speed justified stop based on

reasonable suspicion of impairment, unfitness, or vehicle defects,

even absent a traffic violation).

Here, the trooper had specific, articulable facts 

demonstrating a specific concern, and a traffic stop for a welfare 

check was justifiable under the circumstances. 

REVERSED and REMANDED for further proceedings. 

SOUD and BOATWRIGHT, JJ., concur. 

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Not final until disposition of any timely and 

authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or 

9.331. 

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