Reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle for a driver operating while intoxicated (OWI); MCL 257.625(1); People v Rizzo; Totality of the circumstances

The court held that the traffic stop was supported by reasonable suspicion because the officer’s observations of defendant’s intoxication less than an hour earlier, combined with seeing a vehicle registered to him being driven, “furnished the officer with reasonable suspicion to stop defendant’s vehicle[.]” Defendant was charged with OWI, but the trial court suppressed evidence and dismissed after concluding the stop lacked “probable cause or reasonable suspicion.” The circuit court denied leave, agreeing that the stop was not supported by reasonable suspicion. On appeal, the court applied the governing standard that “‘[a] traffic stop is justified if the officer has an articulable and reasonable suspicion that a vehicle or one of its occupants is subject to seizure for a violation of law.’” It emphasized the inquiry is “fact specific” and based on “‘commonsense judgments and inferences about human behavior.’” The court next explained that reasonable suspicion “‘entails something more than an inchoate or unparticularized suspicion or hunch,’” but remains a low threshold because “‘the reasonable suspicion inquiry falls considerably short of 51% accuracy,’” and “‘to be reasonable is not to be perfect . . . .’” The court also rejected the premise that erratic driving is required, relying on the rule that a “‘strong odor of intoxicants on a motorist’s breath, standing alone, can provide a police officer with a reasonable, articulable, particularized suspicion’” of intoxicated driving, and that police need not “‘visibly observe indications’” such as swerving or crossing lane markers to develop reasonable suspicion. The court then held that the earlier observations (bloodshot, watery eyes, strong odor, and admission of drinking) within 45 to 60 minutes supported reasonable suspicion and that the trial court erred by misstating the timing and by treating the stop as based only on an abrupt turn rather than the “totality of the circumstances.” Reversed and remanded.