Two deputies with the Hall County Sheriff’s Office stopped a car driven by Leonel A. Dominguez after they observed Dominguez fail to properly signal a right turn. These deputies were following Dominguez because someone had told them that a Hispanic man who drove the same kind of car was a drug dealer. In the course of the traffic stop, the deputies asked Dominguez for permission to search his car. When he refused, the deputies called for a canine unit to come to the scene and detained Dominguez until the canine unit arrived. When the canine unit arrived about ten minutes later, a drug dog sniffed the exterior of the car and indicated the presence of drugs. The deputies then searched the car and found approximately 3 grams of methamphetamine in the steering column. Before trial, Dominguez moved to suppress the evidence seized during the search of his car, contending that it resulted from an unlawful detention. Following a hearing on that motion, the trial court denied it. Dominguez then was tried without a jury and was convicted of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute in violation of OCGA § 16-13-30 b and failure to use his turn signal in violation of OCGA § 40-6-123 a.1 Dominguez appeals, asserting that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress. We agree and reverse the judgment below.
With respect to the motion to suppress, the facts are undisputed.2 The evidence shows that the deputies received a tip about a Hispanic drug dealer on either the day they stopped Dominguez or the day before. According to one deputy, the tipster told them that a Hispanic man, who was a large man and went by the name “Giant,” drove a green Crown Victoria and dealt methamphetamine. The tipster gave the deputies no other information, such as the specific areas in which Giant sold drugs or when they might expect to see Giant in those areas. As one deputy acknowledged, the information was “very vague . . . even for us.” Later, at the hearing on the motion to suppress, the deputies did not identify the tipster or explain how they came into contact with him, but they admitted that the tipster was neither an informant who worked regularly with the Sheriff’s Office nor someone who was known to the deputies. One deputy explained, “I can’t even tell you why I began talking to the tipster.”
