Following a bench trial based upon stipulated evidence, Jennifer Renee Waters was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol DUI,1 failure to maintain lane,2 and driving while her license was suspended.3 On appeal, Waters contends that the trial court erred in denying her motion to suppress and motion in limine to exclude the results of the field sobriety tests since her detention had ripened into a custodial arrest and the officers had failed to advise her of her Miranda 4 rights and the implied consent warning5 prior to the tests. Waters further contends that the evidence was insufficient to sustain her failure to maintain lane conviction. We agree that Waters’s failure to maintain lane conviction must be reversed since the evidence failed to establish the offense. Waters’s remaining convictions, however, are affirmed. The undisputed evidence shows that on April 22, 2009, at approximately 11:14 p.m., officers with the City of McDonough received a disturbance call, reporting that a male and a female in a black Jeep vehicle had been arguing and fighting in the parking lot of a local bar. The caller further advised that the suspects were possibly intoxicated and described the suspects’ vehicle, including the last four digits of the tag number and its direction of travel upon exiting the bar’s parking lot. A be-on-the-lookout “BOLO” broadcast was transmitted through police radio and the officers were dispatched to the area.
Shortly thereafter, the responding officers observed a vehicle matching the description in the BOLO and initiated a stop of the vehicle after it turned into the parking lot of a nearby gas station. Waters was driving the vehicle and a male was sitting in the passenger seat. When the officers approached the vehicle, the male passenger jumped out and began to walk away, ignoring the officers’ commands to get back into the vehicle. The passenger was belligerent and it was obvious that he was intoxicated. After the passenger was detained, an officer approached Waters. The officer informed Waters that the stop was based upon the information received in the disturbance call and that he needed to ensure that no one was hurt or too impaired to drive. While speaking to the officer, Waters admitted that she had consumed alcohol that evening and had taken the prescription drugs Prozac and Xanax. In light of Waters’s admissions, the officer called for the assistance of an officer with the HEAT Unit, who had specialized training to handle suspected DUI cases. The officer informed Waters that he had called the HEAT Unit so they could determine her ability to safely operate her vehicle. Waters was not placed in handcuffs and was not placed in the back of the officer’s patrol car. Rather, she was directed to stand in front of the patrol car until the HEAT Unit officer arrived.
