Court Opinion

ID: 9702136
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:56:24.922435+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:33.912567
License: Public Domain

LEVINE, Justice,
specially concurring.
What if, in the sequel to this case, there is an identical anonymous tip that a person, seated in a parked vehicle, engine running, 2:35 in the morning, is either “drunk or sick”? But, when the police officer arrives at the location described by the tipster, the vehicle is being operated with no signs of erratic driving. Under those circumstances, I believe the officer would have no basis for an investigative stop of that vehicle. State v. Lykken, 406 N.W.2d 664 (N.D.1987); Olson v. Comm. of Public Safety, 371 N.W.2d 552 (Minn.1985); State v. Teigen, 381 N.W.2d 529 (Minn.App.1986).
The point of the hypothetical is to illustrate that the tip in this case is, by itself, unreliable. Unlike the informant in Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 33 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972), the tipster here is unknown to the police; therefore, both his reliability and trustworthiness are absent. Only because there was corroboration by the police officer that the car was parked with the driver inside over some duration of time, did the officer have the requisite basis for an investigative stop. It is fair to say that in North Dakota, a driver seated in a car parked for a period of time at 2:35 in the morning raises a reasonable suspicion of actual physical control that warrants investigation. The officer’s personal observation constituted the “further investigation” necessary to authorize a forcible stop when a tip is lacking in “indicia of reliability.” Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. at 147, 92 S.Ct. at 1924.
Nor do I believe that by citing the California case of People v. Willard, 183 Cal.*334App.3d Supp. 5, 228 Cal.Rptr. 895 (1986), with a but see signal, the majority intends to approve even implicitly the California rule that a citizen’s unverified tip is per se reliable. That is certainly not what we held in State v. Lykken, 406 N.W.2d 664 (N.D.1987); or State v. VandeHoven, 388 N.W.2d 857 (N.D.1986); or State v. Thompson, 369 N.W.2d 363 (N.D.1985). Nor should it be read into this case.
The policy of the fourth amendment is to minimize governmental confrontations with the individual. United States v. Dunbar, 470 F.Supp. 704 (D.Conn.1979). While that policy is not furthered by permitting police officers to stop citizens not remotely suspected of criminal activity, it should not prevent the police officer in this case, based upon the tip and his personal observation, from approaching the vehicle in question courteously and reasonably, in order to resolve his reasonable suspicion that the driver was “drunk or sick.” There is no suggestion of pretext, or abusive conduct. I, therefore, concur.