It was about 11:30 pm I was boating on a narrow river when about 200 feet in front of me I noticed a DNR boat approaching. The DNR passed by me and continued about another 200 feet and stopped. As I was turning right into a channel, the DNR came up behind me and affected a stop of my boat. The DNR officer claimed that my front navigational lights were off when he passed me on the river, however, he noted in his report that when I turned right to go into the channel, he noticed the front navigational lights were on. Is there any case law which states that immediately prior to the stop the violation must have occurred? I mean, he can�t drive past you, and then turn around stop the boat and effectuate a stop when there is no infraction taking place. In this case, which is a Boating While Intoxicated criminal charge, the DNR had plenty of time to initiate the stop before passing me, and when they did make the stop, the navigational lights were on. The front navigational lights were on the entire time, as I had three witnesses who wrote out sworn statements to that fact. So, based on his admitting that the lights were on before stopping the boat, would he still have had reasonable suspicion to make the stop?
1 Answer from Attorneys
There is no requirement that an officer stop an operator of a vehicle or boat as ssoon as a violation is noticed. Once a violation is noted, a stop may occur at any time thereafter.
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