State v. Pinkham

HORNBY, Justice.

The question in this case is whether a police officer has “specific and articulable facts” to justify stopping and warning a driver when he observes improper driving behavior not worthy of a citation for a traffic infraction. Concluding that a civil or criminal infraction is not always essential and that safety reasons alone could justify such a stop, we vacate the judgment of the District Court (Skowhegan, MacNi-chol, J.) that granted the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence and remand for further proceedings.

At about 2:00 A.M. on a summer Sunday morning a police officer…