{"id":5233,"date":"2012-04-08T08:40:55","date_gmt":"2011-02-27T08:34:02","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-02-27T08:34:02","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=5233","title":{"rendered":"PA: Without showing what, stuff hanging from a rearview mirror does not justify a stop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defendant was stopped for some unexplained thing that was hanging from his rearview mirror which, in the testimony of the officer allegedly \u201cmaterially\u201d obstructed the driver\u2019s view. The statute doesn\u2019t prohibit anything hanging from the mirror, just things that materially obstruct view. Without testimony as to what it is, the stop was unjustified. Commonwealth v. Holmes<\/a>, 609 Pa. 1, 14 A.3d 89 (Pa. 2011):<\/p>\n

Finally, we note there are myriad objects which drivers commonly hang from their rearview mirrors. Air fresheners; parking placards; mortarboard tassels; crosses; rosary beads; medallions of St. Christopher, the patron saint of travel; and rabbits\u2019 feet are but a few. It is not illegal for a driver to hang such items from his or her rearview mirror, so long as the items do not materially obstruct the driver\u2019s view. The legislature could have written Section 4524(c) to prohibit a driver from hanging any object from the vehicle\u2019s rearview mirror, or it could have prohibited hanging objects that obstruct a driver\u2019s view to any degree, but it did not; rather, it prohibited only material obstructions. Were this Court to conclude that an officer\u2019s bare testimony that he saw an object hanging from a rearview mirror which obstructed the driver\u2019s view, without any additional testimony or other evidence supporting the officer\u2019s conclusion that the object materially obstructed the driver\u2019s view, was sufficient to demonstrate reasonable suspicion to constitutionally support the intrusion of a vehicle stop, we would obviate the suppression court\u2019s role in ensuring there is an objectively reasonable basis for the vehicle stop, and expose every law-abiding motorist who hangs an object from his or her rearview mirror to a potentially unwarranted intrusion. See Terry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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