Suppression Motion Granted - OUI Dismissed
11/2/2009
Case Type: OUI
Background:
On April 12, 2009 our client was driving in South Portland at 1 am in the morning when his vehicle caught the officer’s attention. The officer’s report reflected that the vehicle swerved aggressively from his lane into the breakdown lane. The officer indicates that he caught up with the vehicle and saw it swerve again into the breakdown lane. The officer felt compelled to stop the vehicle given his unsafe driving. The officer further indicated that our client failed the field sobriety tests miserably.
The judge saw it differently after cross examination. Attorney Whipple was able to show from the police cruiser video tape of the stop that the vehicle never swerved as the officer indicated. Furthermore, Whipple argued that the fact that our client drifted into the fog line on one occasion was not enough to stop him. The defendant’s motion to suppress and dismiss was granted by the judge. The judge was conflicted as the video tape was grainy and hard to see so Whipple went through the stop piece by piece showing the judge how the officer exaggerated each aspect of the case to get to his conclusion that our client should be arrested for OUI.
Result:
Case dismissed on November 2, 2009
