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OR: Defendant was not seized by officer waking him up at the wheel

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officer did not seize defendant when the officer woke him up in his car. By the time defendant was ordered out of the car, the officer had reasonable suspicion of intoxication. Sivik v. Driver & Motor Vehicle Servs. Div., 2010 Ore. App. LEXIS 502 (May 19, 2010): Here, however, it is clear that, when Mills awakened petitioner and asked him if he was in distress, the encounter was mere conversation by anybody's standard. Mills did not interfere with petitioner's freedom of movement until he asked petitioner to step out of his van. By that time, he had developed a suspicion that petitioner had been driving while intoxicated, and that suspicion was reasonable; he had observed petitioner drive into the lot with the wheels of his van kicking up gravel, pull to a halt in front of a closed coffee kiosk, and slump over the steering wheel...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 22, 2010 (boomark / email).