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McChesney v. State10/20/1999
Appeal from the District Court of Campbell County: The Honorable Terrence O==Brien, Judge
LEHMAN, C.J., delivered the opinion of the court. THOMAS, J., filed a Dissenting opinion in which KALOKATHIS, D.J., joined.
Benjamin McChesney entered a conditional plea of guilty to a charge of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress evidence. McChesney argues that the police officer who stopped his car in response to an anonymous tip of erratic driving did not have a reasonable suspicion necessary to support an investigatory stop. We agree and now reverse.
ISSUES
McChesney presents one issue for our review:
Whether the district court erred by denying appellant=s motion to suppress all evidence obtained after his arrest because there was no reasonable articulable suspicion to justify an investigatory stop.
The State of Wyoming, as appellee, states the issue in this manner:
The district court properly denied appellant=s motion to suppress based on the information provided by the citizen-witness caller and based on the officer=s independent corroboration of the call and his observations of the vehicle=s occupants[.]
FACTS
Because the arresting officer, Gillette Police Officer Eric Will, was the only witness to testify at the suppression hearing, the events leading to the stop of McChesney=s vehicle are essentially undisputed. Around 10:20 a.m. on July 12, 1996, Officer Will heard a dispatch broadcast over mutual aid radio. A highway patrol dispatcher was relaying an anonymous REDDI (Report Every Drunk Driver Immediately) report of erratic driving. The dispatch indicated that a red Mercury with temporary plates was weaving between lanes, passing cars, and slowing down in order to pass them again. The red Mercury, later determined to be driven by McChesney, was traveling east on Interstate 90 twenty-five miles west of Gillette. Will positioned himself to intercept the vehicle as it approached Gillette; he parked his vehicle in the I-90 median and waited. When asked why he waited for the vehicle, Officer Will testified:
Q. [BY PROSECUTOR] Okay. And why were you waiting for the vehicle to come by?
A. So that I could observe its driving and verify the information that I=d received over the radio.
Q. And what were you going to do if you saw this car, as far as verifying?
A. I was going to make sureCI was going to make sure that the vehicle did, in fact, match whatCwhat I had heard over the radio and then follow the vehicle to see if any violations did, in fact, occur, and to possibly speak with the driver.
Q. Based on the broadcast, what kind of violations were you looking for, Officer?
A. Reckless driving, such as weaving. Increase, decrease in speed.
Officer Will waited seven to ten minutes before McChesney approached. As the McChesney vehicle passed by, all three of its occupants turned their heads in Officer Will=s direction. The officer followed as McChesney exited I-90, turned left on Skyline Drive, and drove north to the Highway 14/16 intersection. During this time, Officer Will noticed the passengers looking in his direction. He also noticed the driver looking into his side and rearview mirrors. At the intersection of Highway 14/16, McChesney turned left and traveled north on Highway 14/16. As McChesney made a left turn into a convenience store parking lot, Officer Will, who was one car length behind McChesney, activated his red and blue overhead lights in order to effectuate a stop. During the time that he followed McChesney, O
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