SHAMOUS JORDAN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 2002-12-13
No. 5D02-1505
PETERSON and PLEUS, JJ., concur.
831 So. 2d 1241 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (2002) Caution
Cited by 19 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The appellate court reversed the denial of a motion to suppress evidence, finding that a traffic stop for failure to maintain a single lane was unlawful because the driver's actions did not create a safety concern. The court emphasized that the statute requires a safety risk, not just a lane change, to justify a stop.


Holding

No, the traffic stop was not lawful. The arresting officer's testimony failed to establish probable cause to believe Jordan committed a traffic infraction justifying the stop, as the record did not show his driving created a safety hazard.


Headnotes

[1] A traffic stop for failure to maintain a single lane is unlawful if the driver's movements do not create a safety concern and there is no suspicion of impairment.

[2] The objective test for determining the legality of a traffic stop requires probable cause based on a violation of traffic law, irrespective of the officer's subjective in…

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Key Quotes

“The applicable statute in this case recognizes that it is not practicable, perhaps not even possible, for a motorist to maintain a single lane at all times and that the crucial concern is safety rather than precision.”

Explains the court's interpretation of the statute regarding lane changes.

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Facts & Procedural History

Shamous Jordan was stopped by law enforcement for failing to maintain a single lane. Jordan moved to suppress the evidence obtained, arguing the stop …

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Opinion of the Court
COBB, J.

COBB, J.

Shamous Jordan, who pled guilty to possession of cocaine, appeals the denial of his motion to suppress the incriminating evidence.1 The sole issue presented is whether the traffic stop of Jordan’s vehicle for failure to maintain a single lane was lawful.

Jordan’s argument on appeal is that failure to maintain a single lane does not create strict liability; movement from a single lane is permitted when the driver ascertains that the movement can be made safely. In the absence of any testimony that his driving created a safety concern or any suspicion that he was impaired, Jordan contends that the stop of his vehicle was unlawful and the subsequent consent to search was invalid pursuant to Crooks v. State, 710 So. 2d 1041 (Fla. 2nd DCA 1998), and the applicable statute.2

Jordan asserts that Crooks is directly on point and controls in this case. In Crooks, the defendant moved to suppress physical evidence recovered after he was pulled over for failure to maintain a single lane. The court held that even though the deputy had observed the vehicle drive over the line on the edge on the right lane of traffic on three occasions, the stop was invalid when there was no danger created by the movements and there was no suspicion that the defendant was intoxicated or impaired. The Second District reversed the trial court’s denial of Crooks’ motion to suppress because the arresting deputy had no objective basis for the stop. The court stated:

Because the record does not establish how far into the right-hand emergency lane Mr. Crooks drove on any of the three occasions, there is no basis to state that he was outside his “practicable” lane. Even if he was briefly outside this margin of error, there is no objective evidence suggesting that Mr. Crooks faded to ascertain that his movements could be made with safety. Section 316.089 is similar to section 316.155, Florida Statutes (1995), governing the use of turn signals, in that a violation cannot occur in isolation but requires evidence that the driving pattern created a reasonable safety concern. See State v. Riley, 638 So. 2d 507 (Fla.1994). No such evidence exists in this case.

710 So. 2d at 1043.

In response, the State argues that in the instant case, unlike Crooks, the officer testified that not only had the driver crossed the traffic line demarcating lanes, but also that he swerved back into his own lane for no apparent reason. The State relies on Holland v. State, 696 So. 2d 757 (Fla.1997), which recognized and applied the objective test enunciated in Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996), thereby receding from the earlier opinion in State v. Daniel, 665 So. 2d 1040, 1046 (Fla.1995). Justice Harding’s majority opinion in Holland stated:

In determining whether the suppression order in the instant case should be reversed, we are constrained to review the record under the objective test of Whren. When applying the objective test, generally the only determination to be made is whether probable cause existed for the stop in question. In the present case, the officers stopped the vehicle in which Holland was a passenger because the vehicle failed to stop at a stop sign, a direct violation of Florida’s traffic law. Under similar facts in Whren, the Supreme Court concluded that a violation of traffic law provided sufficient probable cause to make the subsequent search and seizure reasonable. 517 U.S. at 808-16, 116 S.Ct. at 1772-75.

696 So. 2d at 759.

As was the situation in Holland, we are not concerned here with the legality of the actual vehicle search, which was consensual. Moreover, as pointed out by the majority opinion of Justice Harding in Holland, the purpose of establishing the objective test in Whren was to remove subjective viewpoints as an analytical factor in determining the legality of an automobile stop.

In the instant case, we must agree with Jordan that the record is insufficient to establish that his vehicular movements, as testified to by the arresting officer, created any danger to himself or other traffic. Indeed, the testimony of the officer clearly established that other vehicles, including his own, were not in danger by Jordan’s driving. There was no testimony indicating that Jordan was intoxicated or otherwise impaired, nor was any erratic driving pattern established.

The applicable statute in this case recognizes that it is not practicable, perhaps not even possible, for a motorist to maintain a single lane at all times and that the crucial concern is safety rather than precision. We believe that the arresting officer’s testimony at the suppression hearing failed to establish probable cause to reasonably believe that Jordan had committed any traffic infraction justifying the stop of his vehicle, even under the objective test of Whren.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

PETERSON and PLEUS, JJ., concur. . The right to appeal the dispositive motion to suppress was reserved.

. Section 316.089(1), Florida Statutes provides:

"Whenever any roadway has been divided into two or more clearly marked lanes for traffic, the following rules, in addition to all others consistent herewith, shall apply:
(1) A vehicle shall be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane and shall not be moved from such lane until the driver has first ascertained that such movement can be made with safety.

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Citator

Cited By

  • Hurd v. State, 958 So. 2d 600 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007)
    …ingle lane alone cannot establish probable cause when the action is done safely. See, e.g., Crooks v. State, 710 So. 2d 1041 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (no violation where evidence showed driving did not place any other vehicles in danger); Jordan v. State, 831 So. 2d 1241 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002). Nevertheless, the failure to maintain a single lane alone, may, under appropriate circumstances, establish probable cause. See Roberts v. State, 732 So. 2d 1127, 1128 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999) (weaving several times within a single l…
  • Yanes v. State, 877 So. 2d 25 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004)
    …tends that, after the initial stop, the deputy delayed the detention for an unreasonable length of time to give the drug-sniffing dog time to arrive and sniff Appellant’s car. In support of his first contention, Appellant relies on Jordan v. State, 831 So. 2d 1241 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002), and Crooks v. State, 710 So. 2d 1041 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998). However, Jordan and Crooks are distinguished. The relevant statute relating to the operation of a vehicle within a lane states in pertinent part as follows: A vehicle sha…
  • Nicholas v. State, 857 So. 2d 980 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003)
    …aldson, the court determined that squealing tires does not amount to erratic driving while changing the speed of travel and marking the position of the vehicle via the lane markers was considered erratic driving in DeShong. See also Jordan v. State, 831 So. 2d 1241 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002) (Officer’s testimony that vehicle crossed over traffic line three times did not establish an erratic driving pattern.); Dep’t of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles v. Nikollaj, 780 So. 2d 943(Fla. 5th DCA 2001) (Defendant stopped…

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