City of West Bend v. Logan Patrick Lang, 2024AP2559, District II, 6/4/25 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity
COA affirms the circuit court’s order denying Lang’s suppression motion. Lang did not challenge the initial stop, but argued that the officer lacked reasonable suspicion to extend the stop for field sobriety tests.
At the suppression hearing, the officer testified that he saw Lang’s car in the parking lot of middle school at 11:15 p.m., which struck him as “potentially suspicious” because it was late and the school was closed. He then saw the car begin driving onto the street without its headlights or taillights on. (¶2). The officer stopped Lang’s car, and while speaking with Lang, noticed that his speech was “slow and slurred” and he “would sometimes take an unusually long pause prior to responding to . . . questions.” (¶3). The officer testified that Lang “seemed to not know exactly where he was coming from” and there was a faint odor of intoxicants emanating from inside the vehicle despite Lang being “adamant” that he had not consumed alcohol. (¶3). The officer then called for backup and put Lang through FSTs. Lang subsequently received a citation for operating a motor vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration. (¶3).
COA concludes that Lang’s presence in a school parking lot late in the evening, the smell of intoxicants combined with Lang’s denials, and that he began to drive without turning his lights on all contributed to reasonable suspicion for the extension. In addition, COA disagrees with Lang, stating the circuit court’s reliance on his unusually long delays when responding to certain questions was not a generalized sign of nervousness, but reasonable as Lang had no trouble responding to other questions. (¶12).
