See People v. Bozarth, 2015 IL App (5th) 130147 (January).

Illegal search and seizure results after a cop pulls a gun on a lady. If the officer had a reason to be so aggressive, he certainly did not articulate it for the record. In a hearing on a defense motion to suppress, failure of the officer to articulate his reasons usually means they are going to lose the motion.

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Issue

So The defendant was challenging the basis for her seizure by the police. At the trial level, she filed a motion to quash and suppress evidence that was denied.

She was charged and found guilty of DUI.

She was challenging the stop.

Facts

This is what we know from the hearing.

Trooper is on duty at 1:22 am in a rural and quiet area. There is only one car on the road. Yup, the Defendant.

Cop is in an unmarked squad car. He turns around and follows Defendant where he says he was “looking for violations.” ¶ 3.

Sees none.

Then the car appears to turn into a long private driveway but then disappears. The lights go off, and it is unclear where the car went.

So cop pulls into the driveway and notices that the car is parked alongside a barn way before the residence. Naturally, he pulls up behind the car about a car and half length away.

The officer then approaches the driver with his flashlight and gun drawn.

Then this is what happened:

* Driver rolls down window* Says Property Not Hers* Cop Smells Alcohol

At this point, the officer removes the driver from her car for field sobriety tests.

What Suspicions Did The Officer Have?

The trooper testified that when he first saw the car he “had no real suspic...