Judge says traffic stop was invalid
Ruling throws out gun, drunken-driving charges
Wisconsin’s courts recently refined what constitutes a valid traffic stop, vacating one man’s drunken driving and gun charges in the process.
After a Forest County sheriff ’s deputy pulled over a car with several people inside one night in March 2017, one of them ran off into the woods.
The deputy called for backup and Deputy William Hujet drove to the area, on the lookout for the absconder.
About 30 minutes later, Hujet saw Brady Adams driving on Airport Road near Crandon, within a mile of where the stop had occurred, and began to follow him. Adams turned off onto a dark, dead-end road and Hujet continued past him but watched in his rear view mirror as Adams stopped, backed up onto Airport Road, and headed back in the opposite direction.
That’s when Hujet turned around and pulled Adams over and found him intoxicated and illegally in possession of a concealed weapon.
At a hearing on Adams’ motion to suppress evidence, Hujet testified that he was searching for the man who ran from the first traffic stop, and his experience told him such people often call a friend to pick them up somewhere. He thought Adams’ presence in the area and his change in direction suggested he might be that friend.
That was enough for Forest County Circuit Judge Leon Stenz. He denied the motion and Adams’ request for reconsideration. Adams, 26, or Crandon, pleaded no contest to the second offense OWI and having a gun while intoxicated, both misdemeanors, and appealed.
Judge Mark Seidl, writing for the Wausau-based District III Court of Appeals, found that even the totality of the circumstances didn’t amount to reasonable suspicion that Adams had or was about to commit a crime or traffic violation.
“There is no record here indicating that Hujet knew: (1) the fleeing suspect actually had a cell phone; (2) Adams actually had a cell phone (before he was stopped); (3) that there was any relationship between Adams and the fleeing suspect; (4) that anyone entered the vehicle while Adams stopped and turned around; or (5) even assuming both the suspect and Adams had cell phones and knew each other, that the fleeing suspect had asked Adams to pick him up because he was fleeing police.”