State v. Fuqua

Citations

• 2022 Ohio 1952

Syllabus

MOTION TO SUPPRESS – OVI – PROBABLE CAUSE: The trial court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress where defendant's arrest was supported by probable cause that he was under the influence of alcohol while in physical control of a vehicle, where defendant did not challenge the physical-control aspect of the probable-cause finding, and where a police officer found defendant asleep at the wheel of his running car, which was illegally parked on a roadway at a stop sign, and defendant failed to wake despite the officer's knocking on the window and did not wake until the officer physically shook him, and defendant was tired, disoriented, and confused, and defendant had slurred speech, admitted to consuming four drinks, and was off balance upon walking. Because a police officer had probable cause to arrest defendant for having physical control of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, the state did not have to also demonstrate that the officer had probable cause to arrest defendant for operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. Defendant's conviction for OVI was supported by sufficient evidence that he had operated the vehicle where defendant was found alone and asleep in the driver's seat of his car, which was illegally parked at a stop sign, taking up a lane of travel, with the car running and its lights on, and defendant admitted that he had been on his way home from a friend's house the trier of fact could reasonably infer that defendant had moved the vehicle to that location.