Court Opinion

ID: 9567800
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:57:52.864133+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:20:43.411032
License: Public Domain

Johnson, Judge,
dissenting.
I would affirm the trial court’s grant of Savage’s motion to suppress the intoximeter results. “Although an officer may conduct a brief investigative stop of a vehicle, such a stop must be justified by specific, articulable facts sufficient to give rise to a reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct. Investigative stops of vehicles are analogous to Terry-stops, and are invalid if based upon only unparticularized suspicion or hunch. An investigatory stop must be justified by some objective manifestation that the person stopped is, or is about to be, engaged in criminal activity. This suspicion need not meet the standard of probable cause, but must be more than mere caprice or a hunch or an inclination.” (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Jorgensen v. State, 207 Ga. App. 545, 546 (428 SE2d 440) (1993). It is undisputed that the officers did not observe Savage committing any traffic violations. Moreover, while the officer testified that he thought that a drug transaction had taken place or was about to take place between Savage and the pedestrian, the fact that he did not observe any frantic movement, immediate flight, or the exchange of money or goods contradicted his suspicion. In my view, the reasons articulated by Smith for this suspicion simply did not justify a stop of the vehicle as a matter of law. In fact, the reasons given amounted to nothing more than a hunch. Compare Polke v. State, 203 Ga. App. 306, 309 (1) (417 SE2d 22) (1992) (where the defendant’s flight justified an investigative stop); compare also Jackson v. State, 191 Ga. App. 439, 440 (1) (382 SE2d 177) (1989) (where the defendant’s apparent concealment of something under the floorboard upon seeing police officers approach the car justified an investigative stop).
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Birdsong, Judge Blackburn, and Judge Smith join in this dissent.