People v. Riggs

Defendant, Thomas Riggs, was arrested for unlawful possession of cannabis. The State appeals an order which suppressed the evidence seized.

Between 1 and 1:30 a.m. on September 26,1976, defendant stopped his car on the road under a viaduct, ostensibly to check his tires. He turned off his lights, and had stopped under the viaduct because it was raining. Defendant was still outside the car when two police officers approached from their squad car. One officer checked defendant’s driver’s license while the other looked in the car with his flashlight for other passengers. The officer who had the…