State v. Al-Sharif Scriven(075682)

In this appeal, we must determine whether a purported violation of the high-beam statute, N.J.S.A. 39:3-60, justified a police stop of a vehicle. The high-beam statute mandates that a driver dim a vehicle’s high beams when approaching “an oncoming vehicle.” Ibid.

Here, a police officer stopped a car traveling on a street with its high beams on, even though that car was not approaching an oncoming vehicle. At the time, the officer was on foot and his car was parked on a perpendicular street, where he was investigating an abandoned ear. After stopping the vehicle, the officer questioned…