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INDIANAPOLIS – Police in Noble County had no justifiable reason to pull over Christopher L. Rager during a concentrated patrol in April 2006, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday.
The decision affirms an earlier trial court decision throwing out evidence related to the felony drunken-driving stop and charge.
According to the appellate ruling, Rome City Deputy Marshal Mark Feller and his partner were conducting a traffic stop on Indiana 9 when he heard a “whooshing sound” that sounded like a vehicle traveling faster than other vehicles.
Feller radioed a description of Rager’s truck to Wolcottville Marshal Ronald Fennell Jr. and asked him to stop Rager.
Feller believed Rager had violated the state law requiring drivers to slow and change lanes if possible when a police vehicle is stopped on the road.
When Fennell approached the truck, he said he smelled a strong odor of alcohol.
Rager was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Rager filed a motion to suppress on the basis that Fennel lacked reasonable suspicion that Rager was committing a crime or traffic violation.
The appeals court noted first that because Indiana 9 is not a four-lane highway, Rager was not required to change lanes.
The decision also said Feller had no idea whether Rager reduced the speed of his vehicle as he approached the site of the traffic stop, and there was no evidence that his speed was unsafe.
The appellate court also noted that the trial judge viewed the videotape of the traffic stop recorded from Feller’s vehicle and didn’t “see much difference” in the speed of Rager’s truck compared with that of other passing vehicles.
Without evidence from the stop, the prosecution will be forced to dismiss the case.
nkelly@jg.net
