State of Maine v. Rusaw

STATE OF MAINE UNIFIED CRIMINAL DOCKET
CUMBERLAND, ss DOCKET NO. CUMCD-CR-19-1523

STATE OF MAINE

V. ORDER ON MOTION
TO SUPPRESS
JOSEPH RUSAW,

Defendant

The defendant seeks to suppress evidence obtained as a result of the stop of defendant on

March 23, 2019 in Brunswick, Maine. The defendant argues that the officer lacked reasonable

and articulable facts to justify the stop of defendant's car. For the following reasons, the motion

is denied .

FINDINGS OF FACT

Brandon Curtis has served as a Brunswick Police Officer for three years. The parties

stipulated that he graduated from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy in 2017 and he has

training and experience in drug investigation.

Officer Curtis was trained to observe vehicle speed both when traveling and stationary

and to determine speed within plus or minus five m.p.h. He passed the speed estimate test at the

Maine Criminal Justice Academy. His visual estimates are very accurate, based on his

experience at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and on patrol.

On March 23, 2019 at 1:30 a.m., bar closing time, Officer Curtis was working and was in

uniform and in a marked police cruiser . He was traveling southbound on Federal Street in

Brunswick. (State's Ex 1.) A motor vehicle traveling at an average rate of speed northbound on

Federal Street caught Officer Curtis's attention. As Officer Curtis passed the vehicle, the

operator looked at the patrol car. Officer Curtis made a U-turn so he could observe the vehicle's

operation. (State's Ex. 1.) As Officer Curtis approached Center Street, he observed the vehicle

accelerate to a high rate of speed and turn left very quickly and abruptly on to Bank Street.
(State's Ex. 3.) Officer Curtis concluded that the vehicle was trying to avoid police contact.

Officer Curtis then observed the vehicle travel at a high rate of speed southbound through the

Bank Street parking lot. The vehicle was traveling at a speed far in excess of the 25 m.p.h.

marked speed. As Officer Curtis entered the parking lot, he observed the tail lights of the

vehicle he was following as the vehicle approached Center Street. (State's Ex. 2.) The vehicle

turned left toward Federal Street and Officer Curtis lost sight of the vehicle.

Officer Curtis was approximately five to ten seconds behind the vehicle he was

following. He approached Center Street and located the vehicle. Officer Curtis observed a

male, later identified as defendant, Joseph Rusaw, walk away from the vehicle Officer Curtis had

been following. (State's Exs. 4, 5.) Defendant walked past the front entrance of a house and

walked to the back of the house. Officer Curtis pulled up beside the vehicle and demanded that

defendant stop. (State's Ex. 5.) Officer Curtis issued defendant a warning for imprudent speed.

Officer Curtis did not activate his blues lights at any time because he feared that would

encourage the vehicle to continue at a high rate of speed. Several bars are in the area and patrons

leave the bars at 1:30 a.m., closing time. Officer Curtis was concerned for the safety of the

patrons. Officer Curtis followed defendant's vehicle because of the high speed, the appearance

of an effort to. avoid police contact, and the safety of pedestrians in the area.

If defendant's destination was Center Street, the proper route was to travel north on

Federal Street, left on Bank Street, left on Maine Street after stopping at the stop sign, and left

on Center Street. (State's Exs . 1, 3 .) All corners have stop signs and there is a stop sign at the

intersection of Bank and Maine Streets . (State's Ex. 3.)

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

In order to justify a brief investigatory stop, "the standard to be used is whether

an officer has an objectively reasonable, articulable suspicion that either criminal

conduct, a civil violation, or a threat to public safety has occurred, is occurring, or is

about to occur." State v. Sasso, 2016 ME 95, <j[ 14, 143 A.3d 124 (quotation marks

2
omitted);~ State v. Simmons, 2016 ME 49, <JI 8, 135 A.3d 824 (" A stop is justified when

an officer's assessment of the existence of specific and articulable facts indicating a

possible violation of the law or a public safety risk is objectively reasonable considering

the totality of the circumstances." (quotation marks omitted)); State v. Brown, 1997 ME

90, <JI 5, 694 A.2d 453 ("[A] police officer must have an articulable suspicion that

criminal conduct or a civil violation has occurred, is occurring, or is about to occur, and

the officer's suspicion must be objectively reasonable in the totality of the

circumstances." (quotation marks omitted)). "An investigatory stop is valid when it is

supported by specific and articulable facts which, taken as a whole and together with

rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant the police intrusion." See State

v. Taylor, 1997 ME 81, <JI 9, 694 A.2d 907 (quotation marks omitted). "The reasonable

suspicion standard requires less than probable cause that a crime was being committed,

but more than speculation or an unsubstantiated hunch." State v. Sampson, 669 A.2d
•
1326, 1328 (Me. 1996) (quotation marks omitted).

Officer Curtis's stop of defendant was justified. Defendant accelerated when the

cruiser, which defendant looked at as he passed it, turned to follow defendant. See

State v. Simons, 2017 ME 180, <[<JI 2, 13, 169 A.3d 399; State v. Hersi, 2016 Me. Super.

LEXIS 299, *2. Officer Curtis also observed defendant travel through a parking lot at a

speed that was unsafe because of the potential to hit pedestrians leaving bars in the

area; defendant could have traveled on streets and obeyed traffic control devices.

Officer Curtis concluded defendant's conduct was an effort to avoid police contact and

a threat to public safety. See Sasso, 2016 ME 95, <JI 21, 143 A.3d 124 ("Safety reasons

alone can be sufficient [to support a stop] if they are based on 'specific and articulable

facts." (quotation marks omitted)).

3
The entry is

Defendant's Motion to Suppress is DE

Date: October 1, 2019
N ancy Mills
Justice, Superior Court

CUMCD-CR-19-1523

4