Court Opinion

ID: 9796336
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:55:46.523102+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:50:04.585420
License: Public Domain

*828THORNE, Judge
(dissenting):
¶ 19 I respectfully dissent. I do not agree with the majority that there was no reasonable, articulable suspicion to justify the traffic stop. Rather, I think that the information Roybal’s girlfriend conveyed to the 911 dispatcher, together with the inferences that can be drawn therefrom, establish a reasonable suspicion that Roybal was driving while intoxicated sufficient to justify the traffic stop on that basis alone. It is true that the citizen informant in this case identified herself as Roybal’s “Significant other” and acknowledged that they had just had a heated argument, which may render the information conveyed less reliable. Nevertheless, the information conveyed should not be discarded merely on the possibility of bad motive. Courts should evaluate the specific and artic-ulable facts required to support reasonable suspicion in their totality, rather than looking at each fact in isolation. See State v. Worwood, 2007 UT 47, ¶ 23, 164 P.3d 397.
¶20 The totality of the information conveyed to the dispatcher, including the girlfriend’s intoxicated demeanor and statement that she and Roybal had both been drinking, establishes that the dispatcher had reasonable suspicion that Roybal was driving while intoxicated. Given these circumstances, and after reviewing the audio of the 911 call, the trial judge concluded that the dispatcher could have reasonably inferred that Roybal and his girlfriend had been drinking together, the girlfriend was intoxicated, and Roy-bal, who had just left the house, was in fact also intoxicated and driving.
¶ 21 While the girlfriend’s unhappy personal relationship with Roybal may, as with the informant in Salt Lake City v. Bench, 2008 UT App 30, 177 P.3d 655, call into question her reliability, see id. ¶¶ 14-16, it does not obviate the facts. Unlike the situation in Bench, the 911 audio demonstrates that Roy-bal’s girlfriend was intoxicated. When coupled with the information that the parties had been drinking together, the dispatcher possessed sufficient information to reasonably infer that Roybal was intoxicated. Although Roybal’s girlfriend did not provide the dispatcher with specific information about how much alcohol Roybal had actually consumed, the dispatcher could reasonably infer from the girlfriend’s statement that the parties had been drinking together and that the girlfriend had actually witnessed Roybal drinking. Additionally, the girlfriend’s intoxicated demeanor would also suggest that Roybal may be intoxicated as well. Thus, even if the girlfriend had a nonobjective motive, the dispatcher could reasonably conclude that the facts and circumstances raised an inference that Roybal was also intoxicated. This is sufficient to establish reasonable suspicion.
¶ 22 Based on the entirety of the information available to the dispatcher, I would conclude that the dispatcher had reasonable suspicion, despite any reliability issues that may have been present, sufficient to alert officers of an intoxicated driver. I would conclude that the traffic stop was permissible and therefore would affirm the trial court.