reasonable suspicion

[baue12]

Minnesota

I was recently stopped and arrested for a DUI. I was never told why exactly I was stopped. I was downtown on a Saturday night, so traffic was pretty busy, and I was stopped behind a car on a one-way. I had driven only about half a block on that particular street, and when I stopped there were about 3-4 police officers standing in the parking lane to my left. I'm not really sure what they were doing exactly. After a few seconds one of the officers approached my car and knocked on the window. I opened it, and the first thing he asked me if I had been drinking. I said yes, he asked me to exit the car, had me do the field tests, etc. I know that I wasn't speeding or weaving in and out of lanes (I had only been on the street for about half a block, like I said, in that one lane), my tail lights/license light are all fine, there's nothing dangling from my windshield, and "sobriety checkpoints" aren't legal in Minnesota. No one told me why I was stopped and I wasn't cited for a traffic violation. Does this sound legal? Under what circumstances would it be a legal stop? My lawyer is obtaining the police report, so I'll know what the officer claimed soon, but it just doesn't seem right to me.

Thanks,

[CdwJava]

If you have an attorney, he should be able to answer some of those questions - especially when he gets the report.

It could be that it will be considered a consensual contact. A cop can ask you any question you want. If he speaks to you, smells the odor of alcohol, sees what might be the objective symptoms of impairment, and then asks you to do some FSTs, that could be perfectly legal.

As you said, it will depend on what the report has to say.

- Carl