Court Opinion

ID: 9863280
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 03:20:14.367257+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:40:32.257370
License: Public Domain

WOODLEY, Judge
(dissenting).
The Tennessee cases referred to in the majority opinion hold that the statute of that state requiring that a motorist shall exhibit his driver’s license upon demand of any state highway patrolman empowers patrolmen at any time to stop an automobile and require the driver to exhibit such license, but that such officers must exercise such right in good faith and not as a pretext for inspection of or prying into contents of a motor vehicle or any other possession of a citizen. (The Tennessee Statute differs from Art. 6687b (13) V.A.C.S. in that only a Tennessee State Highway Patrolman may require a motorist to exhibit his license.)
I do not find in the record support for holding that the authority of the patrolmen ceased at nightfall or that the shining of the light into the back of the car was a search or that the stopping of the car and flashing of the light was a mere subterfuge or excuse for failure to secure a search warrant or that the patrolmen were primarily actuated by a desire to detect a violation of the local option liquor law.
Patrolman Praytor testified that when he first saw appellant “ * * * he was on an oiled road in Smith County; anyway my partner and I were on routine patrol and met him. He was driving more or less in the middle of the oiled country road.”
He further testified in the absence of the jury:
“Q. Will you state whether or not it is a part of your responsibilities as a highway patrolman to check driver’s licenses?
“A. Yes, it is.
“Q. Will you state if it is a matter of your routine, periodically, to stop vehicles for the purpose of checking driver’s licenses?
“A. Yes, sir; one of the requirements of our job.
“Q. State whether or not you were so engaged on February 15, 1964?
“A. Yes, sir, I was.
*478“Q. State if that was the reason for which you stopped this Defendant?
“A. Yes, it was.”
I respectfully dissent.