Author Archives: wthornburg

Weekly Traffic and DWI News Update 9/30-10/5

• 10/1/13 – There was a DWI checkpoint on September 28, 2013 from 3:00 pm to 10:00pm on HWY 94 approximately .5 miles south of Rte D.
  A total of 965 vehicles were stopped during this seven-hour operation. Members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol made the following enforcement contacts:
  12 — DWI arrests   1 — seat belt summons   2 — non-moving summonses   3 — driving while suspended summonses   2 — drug arrests   1– warrant arrest   40 — warnings
• 10/2/13 – The DWI checkpoint in Ray County on 9/28-9/29 from 11pm to 3am yielded the following arrests: A total of 214 cars were checked during this four-hour operation and members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol issued 21 warnings and made the following arrests: 4 — DWI arrests  2 — child restraint summonses  2 — non-moving summonses  2 — misdemeanor drug arrests
• 10/3/13 – A number of driver’s license testing stations will be closed in the Western area of Missouri. on October 16, 2013 due to troop meetings. Here is a list and plan accordingly:1. Gladstone, Kansas City, Independence, Raytown, and Lee’s Summit will close at 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday, October 16, 2011, and will resume normal hours of testing on Thursday, October 17, 2013.2. Harrisonville, Clinton, Richmond, and Warrensburg will be closed all day Wednesday, October 16, 2013, and will resume normal hours of testing on Thursday, October 17, 2013.

  3. Sedalia CDL testing station will be closed all day on Wednesday, October 16, 2013, and will resume normal hours of testing on Thursday, October 17, 2013.

  4. Lee’s Summit CDL testing station will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., but closed during the afternoon hours on Wednesday, October 16, 2013. Normal hours of testing will resume on Thursday, October 17, 2016.

Weekly traffic and DWI news update for September 22-28

Welcome to Fall. Here’s what has been happening this week:

• 9/23/13 – Taney and Stone County reported 10 DWIs as a result of the checkpoints they had from September 12-14.
• 9/24/13 – A truck driver faces DWI charges after rolling his semi in St. Joseph, Missouri.
• 9/27/13 – American Traffic Solutions of Arizona is suingB&W sensors based out of Sunset Hills to halt B&W use of speed cameras alleging patent infringement.If the injunction is granted, it could effect the St. Louis Area Municipalities that currently used B&W’s speed cameras.

Weekly Traffic and DWI news for the State of Missouri

• 9/17/13 – Troop A will conduct a DWI saturation sometime this month. This will include all counties in Troop A, including Bates, Benton, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Henry, Jackson, Johnson, Lafayette, Pettis, Platte, Ray and Saline.
• 9/18/13 – The FBI data shows that women now account for 25% of all DWI/DUI, whereas that number was about 10% in the 1980s.

Caselaw Update – Officers are required to give you time to contact an attorney

A recent Missouri Court of Appeals decision held that even though an officer is required to give you 20 minutes to contact an attorney if you request one, the officer has no obligation to provide you with your attorney’s information.

In Cortner vs. DOR, ED99145, the Director of Revenue (DOR) appealed the judgment from St. Louis County setting aside the revocation of Cortner’s driving privileges.  The parties agree that the facts are not in dispute. Cortner was arrested for driving while intoxicated. Cortner agreed to take a breathalyzer and was transported to the St. Louis County Justice Center. No qualified officer was available there so Cortner was then transported to the Brentwood Police Station.

Once at the Brentwood Police Station, Cortner requested to speak with his lawyer. He was provided with a telephone and a phone book. Cortner informed the officers that his attorney was not listed and he needed either his cell phone or his wallet which were both at the Police Station in Clayton. The officers did not go back to Clayton to retrieve Cortner’s wallet or cell phone. Cortner chose not to use the telephone to attempt to contact an attorney. After 20 minutes, he refused to take the breathalyzer.  The trial court found that the police effectively hindered Cortner’s ability to contact an attorney by moving him to another municipality without his phone or wallet. Therefore, the DOR was ordered to reinstate his driving privileges. This appeal follows.

The DOR, in his only point on appeal, argued that the trial court’s judgment was in error and that there was a mistake as a matter of law. Pursuant to Missouri law, a driver has no constitutional right to speak with counsel before deciding to take a breath test. However, Missouri’s implied consent statue permits a limited right to seek a lawyer’s advice. Specifically, the individual is to be given 20 minutes to attempt to contact an attorney. The Court relies on prior case law that there is not right to actually speak to an attorney nor does the statute provide that Cortner had the right to speak to a specific lawyer. The Court held that providing Cortner with a phone book and a phone gave him the reasonable opportunity to contact an attorney. Therefore, the Court remanded this case with the instruction to enter judgment affirming the DOR’s suspension of his driving privileges.

 

Traffic and DWI news for September 8 – September 14, 2013

• 9/11/13 – The O’Fallon Police Department issued a press release Friday, Sept. 6 with the results of its recent DWI checkpoints that were held on Sat., Aug. 24.
  • 5 DWI arrests
  • 4 driving while suspended arrests
  • 2 fugitive arrests
  • 6 misdemeanor drug possession arrests
  • 1 felony drug possession arrest
• 9/12/13 – Due to a Supreme Court decision on a Missouri case, Minnesota police are now requiring search warrants to take blood samples in DWI cases. This is because the ruling deemed Minnesota’s implied consent advisory as unconstitutional.
• 9/13/13 -Following are enforcement contacts from the checkpoint, held Sept. 7 in Greene County:
  • 2 — Driving While Intoxicated Arrests
  • 5 — Failure To Wear Seat Belt Citations
  • 3 — Child Restraint Citations
  • 5 — Driver License Violations
  • 11– Insurance Violations
  • 7 — Non-Moving Traffic Offenses
  • 4 — Traffic Violations
  • 2 — Misdemeanor Warrant Arrests

  Officers also issued 29 warnings for various other traffic violations during the operation.

Caselaw Update – Burden on DOR of proof and persuasion in DWI driver’s license case

The Missouri Court of Appeals – Eastern District recently handed down a new opinion regarding the administrative suspension of an individual’s driving privileges after receiving a DWI. Tweedy vs. DOR, ED99188

In this case the arresting officer (Deputy Hoelzer) was called to the scene by another officer (Deputy Burkard). Based on Deputy Burkard’s observations and the failure of the field sobriety tests, Deputy Hoelzer arrested Tweedy on suspicion of DWI. After his arrest, Tweedy consented to a breath test and admitted he was driving. The Director of Revenue (DOR) suspended Tweedy’s license and Tweedy filed a trial de novo.

Throughout the course of the trial, Tweedy objected to Deputy Burkard’s statements contained within Deputy Hoelzer’s report citing double hearsay. The Director agreed to subpoena Deputy Burkard, but he did not appear for trial and the Director did not attempt to enforce the subpoena. Instead, the Director submitted Exhibit B, a supplemental report provided by Deputy Burkard as the foundation for the double hearsay. The Court found the Exhibit B, which was undated, unsigned and inconsistent to be fiction and not credible. The Court determined that without this evidence, the Director failed to prove there was probable cause and ordered Tweedy’s driving privileges reinstated.

The Appellate Court reviewed several points on appeal, most of which is helpful to the driver in cases of administrative suspensions. First the Court makes sure to point out that the Director has both the burden of production and persuasion. There is “no presumption of validity if the Director’s evidence,” and the driver is not placed with a burden to produce evidence to contradict the Director’s evidence on a contested issue. Even though evidence is admissible pursuant to statute, it does not necessarily satisfy the Director’s burden of persuasion.

The dispute in this matter was that the office did not have probable cause to arrest Tweedy. In Missouri, it is not necessary for the office to observe the person driving to create probable cause. Third party statements from witnesses or other officers are generally admissible even though they are hearsay. In this case, the court questioned the credibility of the Third party statement. The Director argues that regardless of whether the third party statement was true the officer relied on that statement and therefore had probable cause. The trial court disagreed and felt they should be able to find whether such third party statements were credible or not. If the driver disputes, the trial court has the right to disbelieve the evidence.

The Director also attempted to use Tweedy’s post-arrest admissions as probable cause. Probable cause must be based on information in the officer’s possession at the time of the arrest, not acquired after the fact. The Court held those statements obtained in the interview could not be used for probable cause.

This case also had the Director responsible for the subpoena of Deputy Burkard. Normally, the driver required to subpoena the officer if the driver wishes to confront and examine the officer. However, in this case, the Director agreed to undertake the responsibility and therefore created a duty to have the officer appear.

Finally, the Director could not require Tweedy to testify. Even though an adverse party may be required to testify in a civil matter, Tweedy had a constitutional right not to testify against himself in a civil matter where the answers might incriminate him in a future criminal proceeding.

Traffic and DWI news for September 1 – September 7, 2013

• 9/1/13 – Have you been pulled over and tried to show proof of insurance on your smart phone only to have the officer not accept it? That’s because they were required to see a paper document, but that is no more. According to a new law that went into effect on Wednesday, you can now show proof of insurance on your phone. Yay for finally catching up with technology.
  Fines are going up in Emergency Zones so slow down.
  Oh and some stuff about concealed carry. You’ll have to read that.
• 9/3/13 – Officers were cracking down before the Ride of the Century even started. 23 riders were arrested and 24 bikes were towed Thursday night. Reports indicate that drivers were on the sidewalk, performing stunts and committing other traffic violations.

Traffic and DWI news for 8/25-8/31

• 8/27/13 – MSHP released the results of the DWI checkpoint in Newton County and the DWI saturations in Barry and Stone County for August 22 – August 24. They stopped 617 vehicles which resulted in the following tickets:DWI Arrests — 18  Speed Violations — 14  Seat Belt Violations — 62  Child Restraint Offenses — 8  Hazardous Moving Violations — 11  Non-Moving Traffic Offenses — 28  Driver’s License Violations — 16  Uninsured Motorists Violations — 9  Misdemeanor Warrant Arrests — 8  Felony Warrant Arrest– 1  Drug Arrests — 5  Minor In Possession Violation — 1  Other Misdemeanor Violations — 11  Warnings — 350
• 8/28/13 – The sobriety checkpoint from Table Rock Lake on August 24 saw 136 watercraft stopped. These tickets were issued:Boating While Intoxicated — 3  Misdemeanor Drug Arrests — 2  Boating Citations — 9  Warnings — 26  Marine Safety Inspections — 3
• 8/28/13 – On August 16, 2013, Franklin County Missouri set up a campaign looking for aggressive commercial drivers. The campaign used 5 troopers and had the following results:26 Total number of vehicles stopped  10 Commercial vehicle arrests  3 Commercial vehicles placed out-of-service  10 Commercial vehicle inspections  3 Non-moving summonses  1 Uninsured motorists summons  4 Commercial vehicle hazardous moving summonses
• 8/29/13 – There was a DWI checkpoint in St. Francois County from Saturday to Sunday morning on Highway 67. Officers stopped 672 vehicles and issued the following tickets:3 — DWI arrests  2– seat belt summonses  5 — uninsured motorist summonses  5 — driver’s license summonses  1 — non-moving summons  7 — warrant arrests  2 — drug arrests  55 — warnings issued
• 8/30/13 – An 8 hour DWI saturation in Jefferson County conducted during the month of August resulted in:DWI Misdemeanor — 1 arrest  DWI Felony — 1 arrest  Speed — 2 summonses  Seat Belt — 5 summonses  Other Hazardous Moving — 2 summonses  No Insurance — 2 summonses  Misdemeanor Criminal Arrests — 2 arrest  Warnings — 32The number of vehicles stopped was not listed.
• 8/30/13 – Don’t forget the Ride of the Century Motorcycle Event is this weekend in the St. Louis/St. Charles area. Please watch out for those on bikes while you travel over this Labor Day Weekend.
• 8/30/13 – The MSHP has released that there will be DWI checkpoints/saturations sometime during the month of September 2013 in the following locations:Boone County Camden County Cooper County Ste Genevieve County North St. Louis CountyIf they release more specifics, we will be sure to update.
• 8/31/13 – A total of 17 arrests and 13 warnings were issued in conjunction with a DWI saturation conducted in Texas County on August 16, 2013.  The designated highways for this saturation were U.S. Highway 60 and U.S. Highway 63.
• 8/31/13 – St. Louis County Police are issuing a zero tolerance policy for stunts and illegal behavior during this weekend’s Ride of the Century.