Appeals Court: Area case violated Fourth Amendment rights – Post-Bulletin

ST. PAUL A Wabasha police officer had no right to stop a man he saw driving down a narrow dirt road a stop that led to a DWI charge and the revocation of his driver's license.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals handed down the decision Monday, ruling in favor of David Kenneth Schlicher, 41, of Elk River. It reversed a May 2016 ruling by Wabasha County District Court Judge Terrance Walters.

Monday's ruling sends the case back to district court.

The case began early March 3, 2016, when Wabasha officer spotted Schlicher turn onto a narrow dirt road. The officer knew the private road led only to a commercial business, which was closed at that hour, so he followed Schlicher's vehicle.

As the officer drove down the dirt road, he saw Schlicher's vehicle coming toward him. The officer put his squad car in reverse because the road was too narrow for them both to fit, and he "didn't want to approach the vehicle from the front," the complaint says.

The officer stopped his squad near the end of the dirt road and got out; another squad car arrived about then. Schlicher's car was still moving when the first officer got out of his car Schlicher testified that he only stopped his vehicle because he couldn't fit past the squad car.

After an investigation at the scene, the officer arrested Schlicher for DWI. He refused to take a breath test, and his license was revoked.

Schlicher challenged the revocation in Wabasha County District Court; he disputed, among other issues, that the officer had a "reasonable, articulable suspicion of criminal activity to stop" Schlicher's car. It was, he said, a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.

The district court ruled the officer's stop was constitutional, and upheld the license revocation.

Schlicher then appealed to the state court.

The judges agreed that the "seizure" occurred when the officer parked his car, exited and began walking toward Schlicher's car, which was still moving.

The officer didn't reverse his squad car out onto the main road, which would have allowed Schlicher complete access to the main road, the document says.

"Considering the positioning of the officer's squad car on the narrow road; the fact that the officer exited his vehicle while (Schlicher) was still driving; and the fact that another squad car had arrived on the scene, we conclude that the officer's actions constituted a seizure because no reasonable person in appellant's position would have felt free to leave," the judges wrote.

Nor did the officer have a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, they continued; "in fact, the officer testified that his actions were motivated by his curiosity."

The area wasn't known for, or vulnerable to, criminal activity, the ruling says, and the officer didn't suspect some wrongdoing was occurring.

"The only factors to which the officer testified that would suggest criminal activity were the time of night, that he had never before seen anyone driving on that private narrow road, and that the narrow road led to a closed business.

"These factors are insufficient," the justices wrote, "and the stop and seizure were unlawful."

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Appeals Court: Area case violated Fourth Amendment rights - Post-Bulletin