A Floyd County jury convicted Milton Guy Welch of possession of cocaine, OCGA § 16-13-30 a, and possession of an open container of alcohol, OCGA § 40-6-253 b. He appeals from his conviction. Finding no error, we affirm. 1. Welch contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress, arguing the officer who stopped him lacked a reasonable, articulable suspicion of criminal activity necessary to make a traffic stop. When considering a motion to suppress based upon a traffic stop, the trial court must determine whether the police officer had a reasonable, articulable suspicion of criminal conduct, in other words, an objective determination “that the person is, or is about to be, engaged in criminal activity.” Garmon v. State , 271 Ga. 673, 676-677 2 524 SE2d 211 1999. On review of the grant or denial of a motion to suppress, this Court “construes the evidence most favorably to uphold the findings and judgment of the trial court, and we will not disturb the trial court’s findings on disputed facts and credibility unless those findings are clearly erroneous.” Citation omitted. Vaughan v. State , 247 Ga. App. 368 543 SE2d 429 2000; see also Popham v. State , 214 Ga. App. 775, 776 449 SE2d 150 1994 “where a conflict exists in the evidence, the ruling of the trial court will be upheld where there is evidence to support it.” citation omitted.
At the hearing on Welch’s motion to suppress, the arresting officer testified that, at approximately 8:00 a.m. on October 3, 2002, he observed Welch parked in the middle of the road at the end of a dead-end street. There are no occupied homes or businesses on the road, but there are three condemned houses near the end of the road. This area was well known for its drug activity and prostitution, and the officer personally had made several drug-related arrests there prior to this date. The officer drove toward Welch’s car in his marked patrol vehicle. Upon seeing the officer, Welch started driving toward him. The officer activated his blue lights, but it appeared to him that Welch was not going to stop and was attempting to drive away from the scene. The officer pulled his car slightly into Welch’s lane, partially blocking the road and causing Welch to stop. The officer approached Welch’s car and immediately noticed that Welch had an open container of beer nestled between his legs. The officer observed that Welch had an odor of alcohol on his breath, his speech was slurred, and he appeared to be nervous. Welch told the officer that he had had one beer earlier that morning. After a backup police unit arrived, the officer asked Welch to step out of the car so that he could perform field sobriety testing. When Welch stepped out of the car, the backup officer observed a glass pipe in the driver’s seat in plain view. Welch was very nervous at this point and kept trying to reach into his pocket. The officer arrested Welch for an open container violation, and, during a search incident to arrest, discovered a packet of crack cocaine in Welch’s pants pocket.1
