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State v. Choi, CR-09-2912 (Superior Ct. Cumberland) A hearing on defendant's motion to suppress was held on October 29, 2009. At the hearing counsel for defendant stated that his challenge was limited to whether there was reasonable articulable suspicion for the vehicle stop and reasonable articulable suspicion to justify requesting the defendant to perform 1ield sobriety tests. 1 The court makes the following findings: In the early morning of April 12, 2009 Officer Stailing of the South Portland Police Deparbnent was traveling eastward on Westbrook Street when his attention was drawn to a vehicle (driven by defendant Won Choi) traveling ahead of him on Westbrook Street. Although the officer testified that he saw the vehicle swerve almost off the road after it had passed the intersection of Broadway and Westbrook Street, the court did not observe any discernable swerve on a video taken from the cruiser. On this record, the court does not find that there was any erratic operation or other basis for an articulable suspicion that would have justified a stop at that point or that would contribute to the existence of reasonable articulable suspicion at a later point. However, the court infers that something about the vehicle drew the officer's attention because the officer, who was originally delayed by a red light at the Broadway intersection, accelerated to over 60 miles per hour in order to catch up to Choi's vehicle. Choi's vehicle was briefly lost to the officer's view as it crested a hill but when the officer was able to see it again, the vehicle was on the right side of the road partially over the fog line in the breakdown lane? After a few seconds Choi's vehicle returned to the travel lane but then traveled back partially into the breakdown lane, straddling the fog line, where it remained for more than five seconds before the officer turned on his blue lights. Choi's vehicle did not swerve and was not being operated in a dangerous manner. There were no pedestrians or parked vehicles in the breakdown lane. The question before the court therefore is whether the officer's observation of Choi's vehicle twice traveling partially over the fog line after it had crested the hill is sufficient to constitute a reasonable articulable suspicion sufficient to justify an OUI stop. This is a close question. While crossing a solid centerline potentially constitutes a traffic violation, see 29-A M.R.S.

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