Opinion ID: 877860
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the stop of defendant's vehicle

Text: In State v. Gopher (1981), Mont., 631 P.2d 293, 38 St.Rep. 1078, this Court set forth the standards by which we judge vehicular stops. In Gopher, we stated: ... The State's burden has two elements: (1) objective data from which an experienced officer can make certain inferences; and (2) a resulting suspicion that the occupant of a certain vehicle is or has been engaged in wrongdoing or was a witness to criminal activity... 631 P.2d at 296, 38 St.Rep. at 1081. The defendant's behavior clearly justified the stop. He placed a green bag in the back of his pickup. In driving away from the residence at 1014 Elm, he made several sharp turns in rapid succession at a relatively high speed on icy or snow-packed roads. He failed to use proper turn signals, and failed to pull over after the officers had activated their flashing light on top of their car. This dangerous and evasive driving, combined with the surveillance observations, provided a sufficient objective basis to give the officers a reasonable suspicion that the defendant was engaged in wrongdoing.