8th offender with .19 gets reversal from CCA

James Moates, a McMinn County man with 7 prior DUI convictions was in his truck, drunk at 2:00 a.m in a store parking lot. The store was closed and had "no loitering" signs in the lot. Etowah police Sgt Bige saw the truck with it's lights on stopped in the lot. She drove past, but saw it there again five minutes later. She pulled in to investigate. She activated her blue lights and approached the truck. She found the drunken Moates with a .19 BAC.

The trial court ruled that an officer can approach any vehicle in such a situation to investigate. The Court of Criminal Appeals decided otherwise. Following the precedent of State Williams,185 S.W3d 311, 314 (Tenn. 2006), the Court ruled that the defendant was incorrectly seized and the case had to be dismissed.

Maybe, this case will be appealed to the Supreme Court, so they can revisit Williams and fix this nonsense. If the driver in the parked truck had suffered a stroke or heart attack and the officer passed him by due to the Williams case, what would people think about the officer? This is the type of decision that demoralizes officers, victims and citizens and makes them think the judicial system is in need of some common sense.

Read the case at: http://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/moatsjamesdavidopn.pdf