Lopez v. State

While the Georgia Supreme Court has recognized that “ ‘the [Sjtate can practice preventive therapy by reasonable road checks to ascertain whether man and machine meet the legislative determination of fitness,’ ” it further warns that such stops “should not be used as a subterfuge to detain citizens for the purpose of searching their automobiles when they are under no founded suspicion.” Brisbane v. State, 233 Ga. 339, 343 (211 SE2d 294) (1974). I am troubled in the instant case by the lack of an underlying “founded suspicion” motivating both the stop and the overzealous search of appellants’…