Berge v. Commissioner of Public Safety

I respectfully dissent.

I

In ruling the stop improper, the trial court specifically referred to the officer's lack of “probable cause to stop.” As we stated in State v. Wellman, 355 N.W.2d 331 (Minn.Ct.App.1984), in determining the validity of an automobile stop, the test is reasonable suspicion, not probable cause. The officer “must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which, together with the reasonable inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant the invasion of a citizen’s personal security. The intrusion cannot be based on an inarticulate hunch, and must be reasonable in…