The Minnesota DWI Case Of The Week is State v. Kapus (Decided March 23, 2020, Minnesota Court of Appeals, Unpublished) which stands for the proposition that the "totality of the circumstances" govern whether testing with a preliminary breath test is warranted.
In Kapus, Minnesota State Trooper Samuel Catlin found Jeffrey Lee Kapus sitting in his car in the ditch on the wrong side of a county road in Morrison County. It was -15 degrees Fahrenheit and windy that night, but the road was “clear,” “dry,” and “not difficult to travel.” Catlin noticed that Kapus’s speech was slurred, his left eye was watery, and he began “swaying” on his feet in a “circular motion” as soon as he stepped out of his car. Catlin also noticed that Kapus had several unusual responses to his situation: he was very “laid back” about his car being in the ditch, which in Catlin’s experience is contrary to the typical driver responses of being either “upset” or “apologetic,” and he gave a slow and seemingly untruthful answer to Catlin’s question about where he was coming from that night—answering that he had gone to purchase gasoline for his car. From these circumstances, Catlin formed the belief that Kapus had been driving while under the influence of alcohol.
Because of the extreme weather, Catlin did not ask Kapus to perform any field sobriety tests, but he did ask Kapus to take a preliminary breath test (PBT), making the request less than a minute after he first approached Kapus. Kapus agreed to testing and blew a .194 on the PBT.
Kapus was subsequently charged with 3rd Degree DWI and he moved to suppress all of the evidence arguing that there was insufficient evidence to justify the request for the preliminary breath test that formed the basis for the arrest.
The District Court denied the motion to suppress and on appeal, the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court, stating:
"...a law enforcement officer may seize a stopped driver and “request a PBT if the officer possesses ‘specific and articulable facts’ that form a basis to believe that a person has been driving a motor vehicle while impaired.” Vondrachek v. Comm ’r of Pub. Safety, 906 N.W.2d 262, 268 (Minn. App. 2017) (quoting Dep’t. of Pub. Safety v. Juncewski, 308 N.W.2d 316, 321 (Minn. 1981)), review denied (Minn. Feb. 28, 2018)."
"“Reasonable suspicion must be based on specific, articulable facts that allow the officer to be able to articulate . . . that he or she had a particularized and objective basis for suspecting the seized person of criminal activity.” State v. Morse, 878 N.W.2d 499, 502 (Minn. 2016) (alteration in original) (quotation omitted). The reasonable-suspicion standard is not high, and law enforcement officers may draw inferences that are based on the totality of circumstances, including those “that might well elude an untrained person."
"Kapus argues that Trooper Catlin did not observe any odor of alcohol on him before asking him to take a PBT and that other circumstances were insufficient to suggest that he had been drinking and driving. We disagree. Caselaw mandates that we consider the totality of all circumstances suggestive of Kapus’s alcohol consumption. See, e.g., Costillo v. Comm’r of Pub. Safety, 416 N.W.2d 730, 733 (Minn. 1987)"
"Here, the particular circumstances supporting Catlin’s suspicion that Kapus was driving under the influence of alcohol include that he was involved in a one-car accident where he crossed over an oncoming traffic lane to drive into the ditch on the opposite side of the road when the roadway was clear and dry; he swayed in a circular pattern that was unrelated to the wind when he left his vehicle; his speech was slurred and his eye was watery; and he behaved abnormally when talking about the accident and gave a pretextual reason for driving late at night when the weather was very cold. In addition, Catlin noted that there were several bars in the immediate vicinity."
"These circumstances were sufficiently suspicious to provide Catlin proper grounds for asking Kapus to perform a PBT. While Kapus suggests that Catlin should have asked him to complete field sobriety tests before asking him to take a PBT, the extreme weather was not conducive to doing so, and Kapus, on his own initiative, demonstrated some of the physical conduct that could have been established through field sobriety testing. Because Trooper Catlin reasonably suspected Kapus of criminal activity, he could ask Kapus to take a PBT. See Vondrachek, 906 N.W.2d at 268. We conclude that the district court did not err in declining to suppress the evidence recovered by Catlin."
Moral Of The Story: It's the vibe of the thing that counts.
If you or a loved one have been charged with a Minnesota DWI, feel free to contact Minneapolis DWI Lawyer, F. T. Sessoms at (612) 344-1505 for answers to all of your Minnesota DWI and DUI questions.
"Kapus argues that Trooper Catlin did not observe any odor of alcohol on him before asking him to take a PBT and that other circumstances were insufficient to suggest that he had been drinking and driving. We disagree. Caselaw mandates that we consider the totality of all circumstances suggestive of Kapus’s alcohol consumption. See, e.g., Costillo v. Comm’r of Pub. Safety, 416 N.W.2d 730, 733 (Minn. 1987)"
"Here, the particular circumstances supporting Catlin’s suspicion that Kapus was driving under the influence of alcohol include that he was involved in a one-car accident where he crossed over an oncoming traffic lane to drive into the ditch on the opposite side of the road when the roadway was clear and dry; he swayed in a circular pattern that was unrelated to the wind when he left his vehicle; his speech was slurred and his eye was watery; and he behaved abnormally when talking about the accident and gave a pretextual reason for driving late at night when the weather was very cold. In addition, Catlin noted that there were several bars in the immediate vicinity."
"These circumstances were sufficiently suspicious to provide Catlin proper grounds for asking Kapus to perform a PBT. While Kapus suggests that Catlin should have asked him to complete field sobriety tests before asking him to take a PBT, the extreme weather was not conducive to doing so, and Kapus, on his own initiative, demonstrated some of the physical conduct that could have been established through field sobriety testing. Because Trooper Catlin reasonably suspected Kapus of criminal activity, he could ask Kapus to take a PBT. See Vondrachek, 906 N.W.2d at 268. We conclude that the district court did not err in declining to suppress the evidence recovered by Catlin."
Moral Of The Story: It's the vibe of the thing that counts.
If you or a loved one have been charged with a Minnesota DWI, feel free to contact Minneapolis DWI Lawyer, F. T. Sessoms at (612) 344-1505 for answers to all of your Minnesota DWI and DUI questions.
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