Stahr v. Department of Transportation

In Stahr v. Department of Transportation, 969 A.2d 37 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2009), a Pennsylvania State Police trooper responded to an accident scene. With the vehicle abandoned, the trooper located the licensee at his home using vehicle registration information. When questioned by the trooper, the licensee admitted to driving the vehicle. At this point, the trooper noticed that the licensee smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech, and had an unsteady gait. The licensee admitted that he had been consuming alcohol that evening. The trooper placed the licensee under arrest and asked him to submit to chemical testing. The licensee refused. The trial court, following a hearing, concluded that the trooper had reasonable grounds to suspect the licensee had operated his vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. The Court reversed, noting the absence of any evidence in the record of a timeframe between accident and arrest or some other objective evidence to support the trooper's conclusion that the licensee had been under the influence at the time of the accident: At no time during his testimony did Officer Brown indicate any timeframe between the accident and the time he encountered Stahr. In other cases where the Court found a police officer had or did not have reasonable suspicion of DUI, where the arrestee was not found in his car, a timeframe between the arrestee's operation of the car and subsequent arrest, or some other evidence, such as witness accounts of the DUI, were established in the record. Officer Brown could not reasonably conclude that Stahr was driving under the influence simply because he showed signs of intoxication when he exited the state trooper's vehicle without further establishing the timeframe between the accident and the observed intoxication. No timeframe between the accident and arrest was established according to the evidence provided to the trial court. We cannot, therefore, conclude that Officer Brown had reasonable suspicion that Stahr was in control of his vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. Since there was no objective evidence to support Officer Brown's suspicion that Stahr was driving under the influence, the order of the trial court is reversed, and Stahr's operating privileges are reinstated. Stahr, 969 A.2d at 40-41.