Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Texting-While-Driving, Almost Unenforceable in Indiana

Seeing a motorist doing something on their phone does not, by itself, give reasonable suspicion to stop them for violating the texting-while-driving ban.
 
United States v. Paniagua-Garcia, 2016 BL 46039, 7th Cir., No. 15-2540, 2/18/16

     The defendant was pulled over because the officer said that he "appeared" to be texting on his phone's key pad. The court ruled that because it was just as likely that he was doing something that was not prohibited, the officer did not have reasonable suspicion. The Indiana law bans texting, but allows all other uses.

     The state's argument essentially claimed that the mere possibility that someone is engaging in a criminal act creates a reasonable suspicion. The court determined that this is too broad, and that "[w]hat [the government] calls reasonable suspicion, we call suspicion."

     There was no evidence of erratic driving or anything else to bolster the police officer's suspicion. The court said that if the government stance was correct, the police could stop any driver they saw drinking from a coffee cup on the suspicion that the coffee was spiked with booze because it is illegal to drink alcohol while driving.


http://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/United_States_v_PaniaguaGarcia_No_152540_2016_BL_46039_7th_Cir_Fe?1456852336

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.