February
28, 1994: Court over turned the case of a man arrested after a police officer,
conducting records checks on the vehicles parked outside a dining
establishment, entered the wrong number while checking on defendant's plate. Believing defendant's vehicle was registered
to another car, the officer stopped defendant's car when he pulled out of the
establishment. After running a check of
the correct license number, the officer arrested defendant for driving on a
suspended license.
The
cop testified that his only reason for stopping defendant's vehicle was his
erroneous conclusion that defendant was driving a vehicle with an illegal
license plate. Defendant argued that the
evidence that he was driving on a suspended license was inadmissible because
the investigatory stop was precipitated by an erroneous records check resulting
solely from the negligence of the officer.
The court agreed