People v. Koszko

Officer Prematurely Arrested Defendant on Reasonable Suspicion Not Ripened Into Probable Cause

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DECISION & ORDER

*1 Appeal from an oral order of the District Court of Nassau County, First District (Douglas J. LeRose, J.), issued February 4, 2015. The order, after a hearing, granted defendant’s motion to suppress evidence. ORDERED that the order is affirmed.The People charged defendant, in a simplified traffic information, with driving while ability impaired by drugs (see Vehicle and Traffic Law §1192 [4]). At a suppression hearing, the arresting officer testified that, at about 9:30 p.m. on March 5, 2014, after receiving a radio dispatch to investigate a traffic accident on Sunrise Highway in Massapequa, he had observed a vehicle that had struck another vehicle in a left-turn lane with sufficient force to seriously damage the first vehicle’s front end. Defendant, the sole occupant of the first vehicle, proved unable to respond to the officer’s questions and required assistance to exit his vehicle and to enter an ambulance. Defendant exhibited none of the indicia of alcoholic beverage consumption. While the officer was at the scene, two motorists approached him and accused defendant of appearing to be “intoxicated,” and a third motorist stated that, prior to the accident, she had observed defendant’s vehicle being operated erratically, unable to maintain a lane and traveling on the grassy center median before reentering the roadway and colliding with another vehicle in the turning lane. A portable breath test proved negative for the presence of alcohol. Defendant was assisted to enter an ambulance, and, after he proved unable to perform a horizontal gaze nystagmus (HGN), defendant was arrested, en route to the hospital.By the time defendant arrived at the hospital, he had recovered from his disorientation, and was speaking clearly, responding to questions appositely, and appearing “mentally alert.” Defendant waived his Miranda rights and consented to be questioned and to submit to a blood alcohol test. He admitted that he had taken soma, a controlled substance (see Public Health Law

People v. Koszko

Officer Prematurely Arrested Defendant on Reasonable Suspicion Not Ripened Into Probable Cause

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