Following a stipulated bench trial, William C. Weldon was convicted of failure to operate his vehicle within a single lane,1 possession of an open container of alcoholic beverage in the passenger area of his vehicle,2 and driving under the influence of alcohol to the extent that it was less safe for him to drive.3 On appeal, Weldon contends that the trial court erred in relying on the “hot pursuit” doctrine in denying his motion to suppress the evidence resulting from the traffic stop of his vehicle outside of the arresting officer’s jurisdiction. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.While the trial court’s findings as to disputed facts in a ruling on a motion to suppress will be reviewed to determine whether the ruling was clearly erroneous, where the evidence is uncontroverted and no question regarding the credibility of witnesses is presented, the trial court’s application of the law to undisputed facts is subject to de novo appellate review.Punctuation omitted. Dodds v. State .4 See Vansant v. State .5 As the evidence here is undisputed, we review the trial court’s ruling de novo. So viewed, the evidence from the suppression hearing showed that shortly after midnight on March 17, 2007, Sergeant Gray of the Henry County Police Department was off duty and driving home in his personal vehicle when he narrowly avoided being struck by a white van that had Bud Light stickers on it, as both vehicles merged onto the interstate. As the van continued southbound on the interstate through Henry County, Sergeant Gray followed and noticed that the van failed to stay within the far right lane in which it was traveling. At one point, Sergeant Gray observed the van weave completely out of its lane and nearly collide with a vehicle that had been abandoned on the shoulder of the interstate. Based on his suspicion that the driver of the van was intoxicated, Sergeant Gray called Sergeant Dunn, a fellow Henry County Police officer who was then on duty, and reported the driver’s erratic behavior as well as the van’s description and current heading.
With Sergeant Dunn now in route, Sergeant Gray continued following Weldon’s van as it exited the interstate and traveled down a state highway toward Spalding County. During the pursuit, Sergeant Gray continued providing Sergeant Dunn with updates as to the van’s location. A few minutes later, Sergeant Dunn caught up with and passed Sergeant Gray, who by this time had lost sight of the van. However, based on Sergeant Gray’s distinctive description of the van, Sergeant Dunn quickly established contact and pulled the vehicle over approximately one mile within the Spalding County limits. At Sergeant Dunn’s request, Weldon, the driver, attempted to perform several field sobriety tests. Based on his inability to perform those tests satisfactorily, Weldon was arrested. Following his arrest, Weldon agreed to take the state-administered blood-alcohol test and tested over the legal limit.
