Davis v. State (1999)

In Davis v. State, 989 S.W.2d 859 (Tex. App.--Austin 1999, pet. ref'd), an officer received a report of reckless driving from the police dispatcher that was based on an anonymous cellular telephone call. Id. at 861. The caller reported the suspect vehicle's description, location, and direction, and stated that three white males inside the vehicle were "possibly smoking marijuana." Id. The informant did not leave a name or address with the dispatcher, and no one stopped at the scene claiming to be the informant. Id. The officer did not observe any violations of the law and stopped the vehicle based solely on the information in the dispatch. Id. The court concluded that the trial court erred by denying the defendant's motion to suppress and noted that, under the totality of the circumstances, "the anonymous tip, uncorroborated as to its significant aspects by independent police work, did not exhibit sufficient indicia of reliability to justify the investigative stop of the vehicle in which appellant was a passenger." Id. at 865.