Beahan v. State (1st District Court of Appeals, August 5th, 2010

Sergeant Haines observed the defendant driving his car slowly down the street and stopping in front of several of the housing units. The street was a two-lane street with sidewalks on each side. After proceeding down the street past several of the residences, the defendant turned around and headed in the other direction. He could have reversed course by making a three-point turn but instead he made a U-turn by driving his vehicle up over the curb on the opposite side of the street. According to Sergeant Haines, the wheels of the defendant's car went onto the grass about two or three feet from the edge of the curb. There were no other vehicles on the street at the time.

Based on these facts, Sergeant Haines signaled for the defendant to pull over. The defendant produced his driver's license and, while running a computer check on the license, Sergeant Haines called another officer for assistance. Sergeant Haines told the defendant that the reason for the stop was that he had made an illegal U-turn onto the grass. He said that the defendant was nervous but that he did not smell of alcohol and that he did not appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Within five minutes a canine officer arrived at the scene with a drug-sniffing dog in the back of his patrol car. The canine officer had arranged to be in the area of the Milton Housing Project. He knew that Sergeant Haines would be working there and he had planned to be close by, in case he was needed. The dog alerted on the defendant's car, and the officers eventually discovered within the car a smoking pipe and a baggie with a crushed up white substance in it. Sergeant Haines then arrested the defendant for the drug offenses.

The Court said: just because the defendant was driving slowly in a residential neighborhood should not be regarded as unusual. Any safe driver would proceed cautiously down a two-lane residential street with sidewalks on both sides. Nor is it cause for suspicion that the defendant stopped from time to time. He was not driving erratically and the fact that he stopped a few times along the side of the street is more likely to indicate that he was looking for an address or speaking with friends than it does to suggest that he was impaired by the use of alcohol or drugs.

The stop of the defendant for a traffic infraction was questionable.  Section 316.1515, Florida Statutes prohibits a driver from making a U-turn only if such a turn is prohibited by a posted traffic sign or if the turn cannot be made safely and without interfering with traffic. See Bender v. State,737 So.2d 1181 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999) (concluding that the officer had probable cause to make an arrest for an illegal turn because the turn was made near a dangerous curve). As we have explained, there was no traffic in the area and the defendant appeared to be operating his vehicle safely.

For those reasons, the court concluded that there was no reasonable suspicion to believe that the defendant was driving his car while impaired. Because the officer lacked a reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle, the subsequent search was unlawful and the evidence seized from the vehicle should have been suppressed.