Opinion ID: 2600503
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: City of Auburn v. DeWaele

Text: ¶ 15 On March 30, 2002, at approximately 2:00 a.m., Officer Faini of the Auburn Police Department witnessed Andrew DeWaele's truck traveling at a high rate of speed. The officer paced the truck for approximately one mile and noted that the truck was traveling consistently at a rate of over 80 miles per hour, when the posted speed limit was 60 miles per hour. The officer also noticed the truck drifting back and forth between lanes, often driving down the center of the two lanes. Officer Faini stopped the truck as it approached an off-ramp. As in Lewis, a video camera mounted in the officer's patrol car made an audio and video recording of their conversation. However, in this case, it is undisputed that Officer Faini did not advise DeWaele that he was being recorded. While talking to DeWaele, the officer noticed a strong odor of intoxicants coming from inside the vehicle. ¶ 16 Officer Faini asked DeWaele if he had been drinking and DeWaele replied that he had consumed two beers. The officer observed that DeWaele's speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot and watery. DeWaele agreed to take a field sobriety test and the officer noted that DeWaele performed poorly. Officer Faini arrested DeWaele for DUI and advised him of his Miranda rights. At the police station, DeWaele signed the implied consent warnings but refused a breath test. ¶ 17 At a pretrial hearing in the Auburn Municipal Court, the city stipulated that the officer did not warn DeWaele that he was being recorded and that the recording was not admissible. Defense counsel moved to suppress all evidence related to the period of the recording. The municipal court granted the motion to suppress and dismissed the city's case. The King County Superior Court affirmed the suppression of the evidence and the dismissal. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the conversations were not private for purposes of the privacy act. Kelly, 127 Wash.App. at 61, 111 P.3d 1213. [5] ¶ 18 Lewis, Higgins, Kelly, and DeWaele petitioned this court for review. We granted their petitions and consolidated the two Court of Appeals cases. Lewis v. State, 155 Wash.2d 1014, 124 P.3d 304 (2005); City of Auburn v. Kelly, 155 Wash.2d 1015, 124 P.3d 304 (2005).