Court Opinion

ID: 9704177
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:26:02.876821+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:58.288116
License: Public Domain

POPOVICH, Chief Judge
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent and would affirm for the following reasons:
1. The majority contends the officer should inquire as to whether appellant had been drinking since the accident, at least when the officer had discovered no other facts reasonably linking the drinking and driving, and concludes that the officer’s testimony was insufficient to establish probable cause. I disagree because the facts and inferences drawn from the facts present probable cause to believe appellant was driving while under the influence.
Appellant was driving his car when a serious accident occurred. The officer believed the car failed to make a turn, went *895over the curb onto the embankment, and then rolled. The officer asked appellant two different times whether he had been drinking and each time he replied no. He then questioned the passenger, who said he and appellant had been at a reception. The passenger said “they” had been drinking; the officer believed “they” referred to appellant and the passenger. The officer then asked appellant a third time whether he had been drinking and he again replied no. The officer concluded appellant was not telling the truth and assumed that he was driving the motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.
2. Probable cause must be evaluated from the point of view of a prudent and cautious officer. Johnson v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 366 N.W.2d 347, 350 (Minn.Ct.App.1985). The totality of the circumstances must be considered and the trial court must remember that trained law enforcement officers may make inferences and deductions which might elude an untrained person. Id. The officer need not personally observe the driving. Id.
Dietrich v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 363 N.W.2d 801 (Minn.Ct.App.1985) and subsequent cases are concerned with whether there is a temporal connection between the drinking and driving. Id. at 803. While the officer need not testify explicitly as to the time of the accident, Graham v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 374 N.W.2d 809, 811 (Minn.Ct.App.1985), there must be facts which provide a'sufficient time frame between the drinking and driving to support probable cause. Hasbrook v. Commissioner of Public Safety, 374 N.W.2d 592, 594 (Minn.Ct.App.1985).
3. Appellant admitted driving, the officer observed indicia of intoxication, the passenger said they had been drinking and an accident occurred, caused, the officer believed, by failure to make a turn. Despite the passage of time, there is no hint that appellant had anything to drink after the accident. If appellant in fact had been drinking since the time of the accident, it is reasonable to infer that he would have told the officer when the officer arrested him for driving while under the influence. Further, appellant denied drinking, despite obvious signs of intoxication; it appears that it would have been fruitless for the officer to question appellant as the majority suggests. Consequently, I believe that the officer properly arrested appellant on probable cause to believe he had been driving while under the influence. I would affirm the trial court.