Fowler v. State

OPINION

ANNE GARDNER, Justice.

The question in this DWI case is whether a police officer has probable cause or reasonable suspicion for a traffic stop when the officer observes the tires of the defendant’s vehicle cross into an adjacent same-direction lane by a tire’s width a single time when there is no other traffic in the area. We answer “no” and reverse the trial court’s judgment.

Background

On July 23, 2005, a little after midnight, Officer Patrick Knotts of the Mansfield Police Department was driving directly behind Appellant’s pick-up truck on Debbie Lane, a four-lane road divided by a…