Glasco v. Commonwealth

In Glasco v. Commonwealth, 26 Va. App. 763, 497 S.E.2d 150 (1998), the Court analyzed the legality of a police officer's stop of a motorist whom he had "arrested two weeks earlier for law violations that often resulted in license suspension." Id. at 771, 497 S.E.2d at 154. Although the officer did not know that a judge had suspended the motorist's license, the officer detained the motorist and then contacted the Department of Motor Vehicles to confirm his suspicions. Id. at 768, 497 S.E.2d at 152. The Court held that "although the officer's suspicion regarding the probable outcome of proceedings against people who fail to pay fines was not conclusive evidence that the motorist was driving without a license, it nevertheless gave the officer reasonable suspicion to detain and question the motorist briefly." Id. at 771, 497 S.E.2d at 154.