Sunday, July 20, 2014

New Law: OWI Stop via Anonymous Tip

The United States Supreme Court has held that an anonymous tipster can now justify the stopping of a vehicle.  In Prado Navarette et al. v. California, an anonymous tipster reported to 911 that a vehicle nearly ran the tipster off the road and described the make, model, color, plate number and approx. location.  The officer located the vehicle and followed it for 5 minutes and then stopped the vehicle after observing no traffic violations.  Anonymous tipsters are generally unreliable, but given the detail of the potential offender and description of the violation, the court held the OWI stop was justified.  Did the floodgates just open?

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