{1} Defendant Paul Maez appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence. He contends that the arresting officer illegally seized him without reasonable suspicion or probable cause and asserts that Article II, Section 10 of the New Mexico State Constitution supports his claim. We disagree and affirm the district court’s denial of Defendant’s motion to suppress, holding that the arresting officer legally asserted his authority to effectuate an investigatory detention.
BACKGROUND
{2} Officer Ray Soto was off-duty, driving home during rush hour, and sitting in standstill traffic near the intersection of a major arterial, Paseo del Norte and Jefferson, when he witnessed a minivan straddling the lane-divider line in westbound traffic. The minivan was “splitting” traffic and hitting vehicles out of its way. Officer Soto testified that the minivan hit somewhere between three and five vehicles and then came to a complete stop. He indicated that the vehicles were “lurching sideways” as the minivan “split traffic.” In response to these events, Officer Soto testified he maneuvered his vehicle to the right, engaged his emergency lights, and “started to get on the radio” to notify other units that there had been an accident and that additional police were needed. He then exited his vehicle.
{3} Officer Soto was dressed in civilian attire and driving an unmarked police car equipped with a siren and lights. As he exited his cruiser, he could see that the right front tire of the minivan “was completely torn away from the vehicle and was almost detached from the vehicle.” At about the same time, the van’s driver exited the minivan and ran south across the far left lane of westbound traffic, jumped a concrete barrier,
{4} Officer Soto decided to chase Defendant instead of the driver because the traffic situation posed fewer obstacles in the direction Defendant fled. Officer Soto testified that Defendant’s flight, occurring almost simultaneously with the stalling of the minivan and through traffic at great risk to Defendant, gave him reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigation. He testified that, based on ten years of experience as a police officer, the occupants of vehicles involved in traffic accidents normally only run when “they are DWTing, they have a warrant, ... [or] to hide crimes [that] have been committed.” When Officer Soto witnessed the minivan splitting traffic, striking other cars, and causing other vehicles to lurch sideways, he did not know if anyone had been injured. He likewise did not know if the minivan had been stolen or if the occupants were “trying to run from something, [or] get away for some reason.”
{5} Officer Soto also testified that once he began to catch up with Defendant, he loudly yelled, “Police, stop.” He yelled, “Police, stop” more than once, but Defendant refused to obey the commands. Officer Soto stated that he was never farther than forty-five or fifty feet from Defendant during the pursuit. After running about fifty yards with Officer Soto pursuing him and yelling for him to stop, Defendant stopped. Defendant was approximately thirty feet from Officer Soto at that point. Officer Soto then ordered, “Police. Get on the ground.” Defendant turned around, and Officer Soto told him to “Get on the ground. Get on the ground.” Because he was brandishing his gun and badge, yelling “Police,” Officer Soto testified that he believed it was evident to Defendant that he was a police officer. Defendant then started to walk towards Officer Soto, and Officer Soto said, “Don’t do it. Get on the ground.” Nevertheless, Defendant continued to approach, keeping his hands where Officer Soto could see them, saying nothing. Officer Soto testified that he did not see a weapon “protruding” from Defendant but that Defendant was wearing “baggy clothing” and it was unclear whether Defendant had weapons on him. When Defendant was within two or three feet, Officer Soto kicked him in the mid-section, and Defendant “went down.” Officer Soto then pushed Defendant the rest of the way down and handcuffed him.
{6} Defendant was placed under arrest for failing to obey a police officer and leaving the scene of an accident. He was then searched for weapons and escorted back to Officer Soto’s police cruiser. As he escorted Defendant, Officer Soto did not ask any questions, but he testified that he was certain Defendant was read his Miranda rights. On the way, the pair reached a concrete barrier, and because Defendant was handcuffed, Officer Soto helped him cross over and then crossed over himself. As Officer Soto was climbing over the barrier, he saw Defendant reach into his right front pocket, take out a piece of cardboard, and toss it to the ground. The piece of cardboard was a lottery scratch-off containing a white substance which later tested positive for methamphetamine. Defendant was ultimately charged with possession of methamphetamine, tampering with evidence, and resisting or evading an officer.
{7} Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of an unlawful search and seizure. At the hearing on the motion, Officer Soto was the only witness who testified. Following the hearing, the suppression motion was denied. Defendant entered a plea of guilty to the possession charge, but reserved his right to appeal “the issue of suppression of evidence pursuant to illegal arrest [and] search.” Judgment was entered, and Defendant now appeals his conviction.
DISCUSSION
{8} “This Court will not consider and counsel should not refer to matters not of record in their briefs.” In re Aaron L.,
{9} On appeal of a suppression ruling, we view the facts in the light most favorable to the decision below and determine whether the law was correctly applied to the facts. State v. Harbison,
{10} Defendant raises two main issues: First, whether under the New Mexico Constitution, he was illegally seized when Officer Soto “asserted his authority to effectuate an investigative detention” without reasonable suspicion; and second, whether he was illegally subjected to a warrantless seizure not supported by reasonable suspicion or probable cause, in violation of the Fourth Amendment, when he was riding as a passenger in a minivan and left the area after the minivan was involved in a crash. Defendant divides his first issue into four sub-issues: (1) whether his flight, which was not an “unprovoked flight upon noticing police,” could be used to support a finding of reasonable suspicion; (2) whether his flight from the scene could be included in the totality of the circumstances to give rise to reasonable suspicion or probable cause; (3) whether his flight following a “hair-raising” ride could be used to infer “consciousness of guilt,” transforming the officer’s “hunch” into reasonable suspicion; and (4) whether his flight of only 150 feet from the scene and his subsequent nonthreatening approach toward the officer created an independent basis for reasonable suspicion or probable cause. In its answer brief, the State claims that Defendant failed to properly preserve his state constitutional argument for purposes of appeal. We address the parties’ arguments below.
Preservation of State Constitutional Claim
{11} In his motion to suppress, Defendant argued that New Mexico courts have interpreted the state constitution to provide broader protections than the United States Constitution, asserting that Officer Soto’s conduct in this case was illegal under both. Defendant interprets State v. Gomez,
{12} We recently held that when a state constitutional claim is asserted and there are no New Mexico cases on point to support a departure from federal authority, preservation of the claim requires a party to “cite the relevant constitutional principle and assert in the district court that the state constitutional provision at issue should be interpreted more expansively than the federal counterpart and provide reasons for interpreting the state provision differently from the federal provision.”
{13} In his suppression motion, Defendant made only a broad statement about our state constitution providing greater protection than the United States Constitution. He did not refer to any particular constitutional provision or principle, and he did not provide reasons for interpreting any provision of our constitution differently from its federal counterpart. His reference to Gomez, without more, is insufficient. The remainder of his motion cited cases and facts supporting the allegation that he was seized without reasonable suspicion or probable cause when Officer Soto kicked him in the stomach and “forced” him to the ground. Such argument does not meet the requirements of either Garcia or Gomez.
{14} Both the State’s response below and the district court’s order show that neither was alerted to the argument that, under our state constitution, Defendant’s flight could not be used to support reasonable suspicion. Preservation of an argument for purposes of appeal requires that Defendant specifically apprise the district court of the claimed error and invoke an intelligent ruling thereon. See, e.g., State v. Varela,
{15} Defendant did not comply with the requirements established in Garcia and Gomez for preserving his claim under the state constitution. He alerted neither the district court nor the State to his argument that the New Mexico State Constitution provides more protection than the United States Constitution to the passenger of a vehicle who decides to run away after the vehicle is involved in a crash. Because Defendant did not adequately preserve this argument for appeal, we will not address it.
Reasonable Suspicion for Stop and Detention Under Fourth Amendment
{16} Defendant argues that Officer Soto did not have reasonable suspicion to stop or detain him. Reasonable suspicion is “ ‘a particularized and objective basis’ for suspecting the person stopped of criminal activity.” State v. Funderburg,
{17} It is difficult to know what Defendant perceived or believed because we have only Officer Soto’s testimony as our guide. Defendant advances inconsistent arguments as to when he was arrested or submitted to Officer Soto’s show of authority. He claims that when he stopped, turned around, and became aware that Officer Soto “had a gun trained on him,” he was under arrest; but he also claims that Officer Soto’s show of authority was “invalid” because it was made in the absence of reasonable suspicion. Later in his brief, Defendant suggests that when he turned to face Officer Soto, he saw “a guy in jeans and shirt” who was “saying something,” and that it was “unclear whether [Defendant] saw that the man was holding a gun.” The facts indicate that Defendant ran some distance while Officer Soto chased him shouting “Police, stop” before stopping and turning around. It is at this moment that Defendant submitted to Officer Soto’s authority.
{18} Although reasonable suspicion cannot be based merely on an officer’s intuition or hunches, it “can arise from wholly lawful conduct.” Harbison,
{19} Without factual support, Defendant claims that when he exited and ran from the minivan, he was not running from police. He asserts that he was “trapped” in the minivan during a “demolition derby” experience, was shocked and frightened, and was running “to a less precarious location” to get out of danger. But this claim lacks support from the evidence. See In re Estate of Keeney,
{20} Defendant claims his flight did not create the same quantum of reasonable suspicion present in Harbison. Harbison held that an officer cannot intentionally or unlawfully frighten or provoke a person into fleeing and then use that flight to justify a stop of the person. Id. ¶ 19. In circumstances where the police action itself was not intended to incite flight — and officers were on the scene attempting to deal with a situation involving probable cause to believe illegality was afoot — flight can be a eircumstance that is properly evaluated to establish reasonable suspicion. Id. ¶ 20. As we stated above, after seeing the minivan driven recklessly and hitting cars, Officer Soto moved his vehicle, engaged his lights, and radioed for more units to come to the scene of the accident. Officer Soto was just beginning to get out of his car when the minivan’s driver jumped out and ran over a concrete barrier and across three lanes of moving traffic. He was followed almost immediately by Defendant, who fled in the opposite direction through standstill traffic. We hold that under the circumstances of this case, evidence of Defendant’s flight was properly included in the district court’s determination of reasonable suspicion. There is nothing to suggest that Officer Soto unlawfully provoked Defendant into fleeing. He was simply sitting in rush-hour traffic when the van attracted his attention. As discussed in Harbison, the lack of provocation is critical to whether evidence of flight can be used to support reasonable suspicion. Id. ¶ 19. Here, because Defendant’s flight was unprovoked and occurred after Officer Soto made his presence known by activating his lights, the district court properly factored Defendant’s flight into its reasonable-suspicion analysis. Id. ¶ 20.
{21} Defendant appears to claim that his flight from the scene cannot be considered under a reasonable suspicion analysis because he was only a passenger and not the person guilty of reckless driving. Relying on State v. Affsprung,
{22} In this case, on the other hand, Officer Soto had more than just a general concern. Officer Soto testified that
Headlong flight — wherever it occurs — is the consummate act of evasion: It is not necessarily indicative of wrongdoing, but it is certainly suggestive of such. In reviewing the propriety of an officer’s conduct, courts do not have available empirical studies dealing with inferences drawn from suspicious behavior, and we cannot reasonably demand scientific certainty from judges or law enforcement officers where none exists. Thus, the determination of reasonable suspicion must be based on commonsense judgments and inferences about human behavior.
{23} Officer Soto was a witness to the events at the scene when the minivan plowed through several cars and came to a stop, was attempting to investigate what had just occurred, and was acting in his capacity as a police officer to “maintain the status quo” pending an investigation. Harbison,
Probable Cause for Arrest
{24} Defendant claims that Officer Soto lacked probable cause to arrest him. In determining whether an officer had probable cause for an arrest, we look at the facts and circumstances within the officer’s knowledge and determine whether they would cause a reasonable, cautious officer to believe that a criminal offense was being committed. State v. Hawkins,
{25} The second portion of the statute — • whether Defendant had knowledge that Officer Soto was attempting to apprehend him— was also met in this case. Despite the fact that Defendant claims there was no evidence to support a finding that he knew the officer was attempting to apprehend him, the district court could have inferred that Defendant was aware of Officer Soto’s intentions based on: (1) evidence of Defendant’s immediate flight from the scene of an accident involving several vehicles after Officer Soto activated his lights; (2) Officer Soto’s testimony that he was yelling loudly and identifying himself; (3) the fact that Officer Soto was never farther than forty-five or fifty feet from Defendant; and (4) that these events occurred on a clear, bright day and that there was therefore no reason Defendant would have been unable to see the officer behind him. See, e.g., State v. Gutierrez,
{26} Defendant seems to claim that because Officer Soto did not question him as he escorted him back to the patrol car, the detention was illegal. But Defendant cites no authority in support of his contention. An appellate court will not consider an issue if no authority is cited in support of the issue. In re Adoption of Doe,
CONCLUSION
{27} We hold that Officer Soto had reasonable suspicion to stop and detain Defendant. We further hold that once Defendant ignored Officer Soto’s commands to stop and continued to flee, Officer Soto had probable cause to arrest him for evading or resisting. We do not address issues that were not properly preserved, and we do not consider claims not made to the district court. We affirm the district court’s denial of Defendant’s motion to suppress evidence in this case.
{28} IT IS SO ORDERED.