Find Court Cases > C9-98-968, State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Laumair Gerard Britton, petitioner, Appellant.

C9-98-968, State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs. Laumair Gerard Britton, petitioner, Appellant.

Case Date: 09/27/2001
Court: Supreme Court
Docket No: C9-98-968, State of Minnesota, Respondent, vs.

STATE OF MINNESOTA

IN SUPREME COURT

C9-98-968

Court of Appeals Lancaster, J.
Dissenting, Gilbert, J.,
Blatz, C.J. and Anderson, Russell A., J.

State of Minnesota,

Respondent,

vs.

Laumair Gerard Britton, petitioner,

Appellant.

 Filed: January 13, 2000
Office of Appellate Courts

 

S Y L L A B U S

1. Investigative stop of a motor vehicle requires a reasonable and articulable suspicion of ongoing criminal activity.

2. The record in this case was insufficient to support an investigative stop of appellant.

Reversed.

Heard, considered and decided by the court en banc.

O P I N I O N

LANCASTER, Justice.

Appellant was driving a friend's car when he was pulled over by Minneapolis police officers, who suspected the car was stolen because it had a broken side window. We hold that the stop violated constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure and reverse the court of appeals' opinion affirming the trial court.

At approximately 11:00 p.m. on March 3, 1998, two Minneapolis police officers, on routine patrol in North Minneapolis, noticed a 1989 Oldsmobile Cutlass with a broken driver-side rear passenger window covered with a plastic bag. Suspecting that the vehicle may have been stolen, the officers began to follow it.

While they were following the vehicle, the officers checked their computer to determine whether it was listed as stolen, and learned it was not. After following the vehicle for approximately four blocks, noticing no unusual or suspicious driving conduct, the officers stopped the vehicle, reporting to dispatch that they were stopping a