Lead Opinion
for the Majority:
I. INTRODUCTION
At about two o’clock in the morning police officer Thomas Gaul followed a car for three or four miles as it drifted back and forth in its lane. As the.car entered a ramp to join S.R. 1, Officer Gaul saw the car swerve sharply to .avoid hitting a concrete island. He turned on the emergency lights and signaled for the car to stop. After the car pulled over, Officer Gaul approached the car’s driver, Tracey West, and smelled alcohol. -West staggered out of the car and failed field sobriety tests. Gaul arrested West and charged her with an illegal lane change and driving under the influence.
Before trial, West moved to suppress the evidence that she was intoxicated. She claimed that Officer Gaul lacked the reasonable suspicion required by the Fourth Amendment to make an investigative stop of her car. Thus, any evidence of her intoxication gathered after the stop should be suppressed. After hearing testimony from the officer and reviewing the video from the police car camera, the Court of Common Pleas trial judge dismissed the lane change charge, but denied
West appealed her conviction to the Superior Court, which affirmed the trial court’s ruling on the community caretaker doctrine, and also found that Officer Gaul had reasonable suspicion to stop West for driving while intoxicated. West then appealed to our Court. She claims the community caretaker doctrine did not apply, and Officer Gaul lacked reasonable suspicion as required by the Fourth Amendment for an investigatory stop of her car.
After a careful review of the record on appeal, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court. It is unnecessary to decide whether the community caretaker doctrine should be extended to the facts of this case. Instead, we agree with the Superior Court that Officer Gaul had reasonable and articulable suspicion to make an investigatory stop of West’s car. Her erratic driving culminating in almost crashing into a concrete island and swerving sharply before entering the highway provided reasonable suspicion for Officer Gaul to stop her car to -investigate whether she was driving while impaired.
II. STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY
In the early morning hours of June 22, 2014, Officer-Gaul was on routine patrol traveling on Route 273 westbound toward S.R. 1 in New Castle County, Delaware. He noticed a vehicle in front of him, which “was kind , of driving a little bit erratically.”
When the officer initially observed the vehicle drifting back and forth in its lane, his subjective thought was that the operator may have been “tired or whatever, so that’s what drew [his] attention to it.”
When the officer made direct contact with West after stopping her car, he noticed a “very strong odor of alcohol.”
West appealed' her conviction and the denial of her motion to suppress evidence to the Superior Court. The Superior Court affirmed on the grounds that the stop was justified under the community caretaker doctrine and also on the alternative ground that West’s erratic driving gave rise to a reasonable and articulable suspicion that she was impaired and therefore driving under the influence of alcohol.
III. STANDARD OF REVIEW
We review the grant or denial of a motion to suppress for abuse of discretion.
IV. ANALYSIS
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, guarantees “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures....”
When law enforcement directs a driver to stop her car, the State has “seized” the car and its occupants, and the protections of the Fourth Amendment apply. But it is only those searches and seizures that are “unreasonable” that run afoul of the Fourth Amendment. In the traffic stop context, under established law since Terry v. Ohio, a seizure is reasonable when a law enforcement officer conducts a brief investigatory traffic stop based on reasonable and articulable suspicion of criminal activity.
As a court reviews the reasonableness of the officer’s suspicion of criminal activity, “it is imperative that the facts be judged against an objective standard: would the facts available to the officer at the moment of the seizure or the search ‘warrant a [person] of reasonable caution in the belief that the action taken was appropriate?”
Whether reasonable and articulable suspicion of criminal activity exists depends on the totality of the circumstances and “the factual and practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent [people], not legal technicians, act.”
Here, the objective facts establish reasonable and articulable suspicion that West might have been driving while impaired. We have the advantage of a video from Officer Gaul’s patrol car recording some of the events leading to West’s stop. The video shows West drifting back and forth in her lane. Officer Gaul confirmed that he followed West for three or four miles while she drove “kind of erratically.” Although weaving, within a lane by itself may be insufficient to establish reasonable suspicion of impaired driving, as the video shows, West then nearly crashed into a concrete island and swerved sharply while entering the ramp to a major highway. Looking at the totality of the circumstances — the erratic driving for three or four miles followed by a near crash into a concrete island and sharp turn correction — leads us to conclude that Officer Gaul had reasonable and articulable suspicion to stop West’s car and investigate whether she, was .driving while impaired.
We acknowledge -the ambiguity in the evidentiary record about Officer Gaul’s subjective beliefs. At one point Officer Gaul testified to his belief that reasonable suspicion existed, while at another point he stated his subjective view that he did not intend to write West a traffic ticket when pulling her over. But Officer Gaul’s subjective belief about whether reasonable suspicion existed is not controlling. As noted previously, it is the objective facts that control the outcome, not the officer’s subjective beliefs about reasonable suspicion.
We agree with other courts that “if failure to follow a perfect vector down the highway or keeping one’s eyes on the road were sufficient reasons to suspect a person of driving while impaired, a substantial portion of the public would be subject each day to an invasion' of their privacy.”
V. CONCLUSION
As we emphasized in Bloomingdale v. State, the clearance to conduct an investigative stop “does not mean that the officer can go further-and require a sobriety test in the absence of additional evidence that provides a reasonable basis for that action. It simply means that the officer ought to be able to make a brief stop to inquire
Officer Gaul’s care to avoid concluding that the'dangerous driving he'saw on the road was for certain caused by the driver’s impairment enhances,'rather than detracts from, the reasonableness of his actions. The officer acted on circumstances that give rise to a reasonable suspicion that someone was driving under the influence, and took reasonable steps to protect the public without getting ahead of himself. He made the stop to protect the public and to inquire, and only after further objective circumstances were observed that suggested that the cause of the danger was drunk driving, did he proceed further to investigate whether that was in fact the case. The Superior Court correctly held that reasonable suspicion existed to stop West for possible driving under the influence. The judgment of the Superior Court is affirmed.
. App. to Opening Br. at 15.
. Id. at 16.
. Id. at 17.
. Id. at 16.
. Id. at 31.
. Id. at 34.
. West v. State, 2015 WL 5121059, at *2 (Del.Super.Aug. 20, 2015) (quotations omitted).
. Id. at *4 ("[A]n officer’s observation of a vehicle weaving from side to side, albeit within a lane, and making sharp corrective turns to maintain the lane, for a distance of three to four miles at 2:00 a.m, could give rise to reasonable suspicion that the driver is impaired, and would justify initiating a traffic stop on the vehicle.”).
. Lopez-Vazquez v. State, 956 A.2d 1280, 1284 (Del.2008).
. Id. at 1285.
. Id. at 1284-85.
. Id. at 1285. In the Court of Common Pleas, the State raised the argument that Officer Gaul had a reasonable and articulable suspicion to make the investigatory, stop to determine whether West was driving ’while impaired. App. to Opening Br. at 40-41. Although the Court of Common Pleas did not decide the motion to suppress on this basis, the Superior Court and this Court can affirm on an alternative argument raised in the court below. See RBC Capital Markets, LLC v. Jervis, 129 A.3d 816, 849 (Del.2015). We also note that like the trial court we have the benefit of a video of much of the encounter, and thus the trial judge was not called upon to make credibility determinations.
. U.S. Const. amend. IV. West also brings her claims under Article I, § 6 of the Delaware Constitution,. analogous to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. While the Delaware Constitution’s search and seizure provision in some instances provides broader protections than the Fourth Amendment, see Jones v. State, 745 A.2d 856, 866 (Del.1999), the broader protections have no application here.
. Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 653-54, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979) (quoting Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., 436 U.S. 307, 312, 98 S.Ct. 1816, 56 L.Ed.2d 305 (1978)).
. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20-21, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); see also 11 Del C. § 1902(a) ("A peace officer may stop any person aproad, or in a public place, who the officer has reasonable ground to suspect is committing, has committed or is about to commit a crime, and may demand the person’s name, address, business abroad and destination.”). The statutory authorization to stop based on reasonable 'grounds equates to reasonable and articulable suspicion under the common law. See Jones v. State, 745 A.2d 856, 861 (Del.1999); see also Coleman v. State, 562 A.2d 1171, 1174 (Del.1989); Malloy v. State, 462 A.2d 1088, 1091 (Del.1983) ("Before stopping [a suspect’s] car, the police [have] to have a particularized and objective basis for suspecting that he [is] violating the traffic laws.”).
. See Navarette v. California, — U.S. -, 134 S.Ct. 1683, 1687, 188 L.Ed.2d 680 (2014) ("The Fourth Amendment permits brief investigative stops-such as the traffic stop in this case — when a law enforcement officer has a particularized and objective basis for suspecting the particular person stopped of criminal activity.” (internal quotations omitted)); United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417, 101 S.Ct. 690, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981) ("An investigatory stop must be justified by some objective manifestation that the person stopped is, or is about to be, engaged in criminal activity.” (citations omitted)); Malloy, 462 A.2d at 1091 (driving away from a tavern, making wide turns, and driving erratically created reasonable articulable suspicion to make investigatory stop on suspicion of DUI).
. Terry, 392 U.S. at 21-22, 88 S.Ct. 1868 (quoting Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 162, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925)).
. Id. at 22, 88 S.Ct. 1868 (quoting Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 97, 85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964)).
. Jones, 745 A.2d at 861.
. See Lopez-Vazquez, 956 A.2d at 1287 ("[T]he court 'must consider the inferences and deductions that a trained officer could make which might well elude an untrained
. Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 695, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996) (quoting Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 231, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983)).
. Navarette, 134 S.Ct. at 1690.
. Id. (citing People v. Wells, 38 Cal.4th 1078, 45 Cal.Rptr.3d 8, 136 P.3d 810, 811 (2006) ("weaving all over the roadway”); State v. Prendergast, 103 Hawai’i 451, 83 P.3d 714, 715-716 (2004) (“cross[ing] over the center line" on a highway and "almost causing] several head-on collisions”); State v. Golotta, 178 N.J. 205, 837 A.2d 359, 361 (2003) (driving "all over the road” and "weaving back and forth”); State v. Walshire, 634 N.W.2d 625, 626 (Iowa 2001) ("driving in the median”)),
. In Terry, the United States Supreme Court emphasized the importance that the facts and inferences from them form an objectively reasonable basis for the official conduct'triggering Fourth Amendment scrutiny:
The scheme of the Fourth Amendment becomes meaningful only when it is assured that at some point the conduct of those charged with enforcing the laws can be subjected to the more detached, neutral scrutiny of a judge who must evaluate the reasonableness of a particular search or seizure in light of the particular circumstances. And in making that assessment it*718 is imperative that the' facts be judged against an objective standard: would the facts available to the officer at the moment of the seizure or the search warrant a [person] of reasonable caution in the belief that the action taken was appropriate?
392 U.S. at 21-22, 88 S.Ct. 1868 (internal quotations omitted); see also Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 813, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996) ("We think these cases foreclose any argument that the constitutional reasonableness of traffic stops depends on the actual motivations of the individual officers involved.”). This Court's decisions are consistent with an objective view of the facts justifying the investigative stop, rather than the subjective beliefs of the individual officers executing the searches and seizures. See Lopez-Vazquez, 956 A.2d at 1287 (‘‘[R]easonable suspicion ... requires ‘some objective manifestation that the person stopped is, or is about to be, engaged in criminal activity.' ” (quoting Cortez, 449 U.S. at 417, 101 S.Ct. 690)); Jones, 745 A.2d at 861 ("A determination of reasonable suspicion must be evaluated in the context of the totality of - the circumstances as viewed through the eyes of a reasonable, trained police officer in the same or similar circumstances, combining objective facts with such [a reasonable, trained police officer’s] subjective interpretation of those facts.”); see also Quarles v. State, 696 A.2d 1334, 1337 (Del.1997) ("[T]he court must consider the totality of the circumstances, the ‘whole picture,’ as viewed through the eyes of a police officer who is experienced in discerning the ostensibly innocuous behavior that is indicative of narcotics trafficking.”).
. Moore v. State, 997 A.2d 656, 667 (Del.2010) (quoting United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 277, 122 S.Ct. 744, 151 L.Ed.2d 740 (2002)).
. United States v. Lyons, 7 F.3d 973, 976 (10th Cir.1993), overruled on other grounds by United States v. Botero-Ospina, 71 F.3d 783, 786-87 (10th Cir. 1995).
. See Navarette, 134 S.Ct. at 1691 (“Of course, not all traffic infractions imply intoxication. Unconfirmed reports of driving without a seatbelt or slightly over the speed limit, for example, are so tenuously connected to drunk driving that a stop on those grounds alone would be constitutionally suspect.”).
. The Court of Common Pleas dismissed the charge against West for improperly changing lanes. An observation of an actual violation of a traffic law would likely have been necessary to give Officer Gaul probable cause, and would additionally sustain the lesser standard for reasonable suspicion. Eskridge v. Voshell, 593 A.2d 589 (Del.1991) (Table) (‘‘There is reasonable suspicion, and hence probable cause, when a police officer observes a driver committing a traffic violation.”). But the fact that Officer Gaul observed no specific traffic violation does not speak to whether he had reasonable suspicion to make an investigative stop, which requires only that there be some “particularized and objective basis" for suspecting criminal activity. Navarette, 134 S.Ct. at 1687; Malloy, 462 A.2d at 1091.
. 842 A.2d 1221, 1222 (Del.2004).
Concurrence Opinion
concurring in the judgment:
The Court holds that “Officer Gaul had reasonable and articulable suspicion to stop West’s car and investigate whether she was driving while impaired.” It reasons that “weaving, coupled with the sharp swerve to avoid hitting a concrete island is easily recognized as driving behavior indicative of drunk driving.” I respectfully disagree. . Rather, I believe that the stop was justified based upon Officer Gaul’s reasonable mistake of fact in suspecting that West had failed to remain within a single lane multiple times over the course of traveling three to 'four miles on Route 273. Thus, I concur in the result only because it was objectively reasonable for a law enforcement official in Officer Gaul’s position to think that West violated Delaware law by failing to remain within her lane.
We are in agreement that a traffic stop is a “seizure” of the occupant of the vehicle and must be conducted in accordance with the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
In Heien v. North Carolina,
I see several problems arising from the Majority’s reasoning. The Court’s holding sets a new and very low bar to justify a traffic stop for driving under the influence. It appears to conflict with other decisions of this Court that say more is needed to seize a citizen for reasonable suspicion of driving under the influence. For example, in Lefebvre v. State
*721 [T]he commission of a traffic offense combined with an odor of alcohol, standing alone, do not constitute probable cause to arrest for a DUI offense. Nevertheless, those two facts may give rise to a reasonable suspicion of DUI and justify a request that the driver perform some field sobriety tests. The driver’s performance on those tests may give rise to facts that either elevate what was only a suspicion into probable cause, or dispel the suspicion and result in no DUI arrest.11
Here, the odor of alcohol and other signs of intoxication were not apparent until after West was stopped.
The practical difference between my view and that of the Majority concerns the nature of the investigation that can be performed after the traffic stop. An investigative detention must be delineated in time and scope to effectuate the purpose of the stop.
The Majority attempts to cabin the effects of its holding by stating that if suspicion of driving under the influence is the basis for the stop, that does not mean the officer can conduct field sobriety tests. It states:
As we emphasized in Bloomingdale v. State, the clearance to conduct an investigative stop “does not mean that the officer can go further and require a sobriety test in the absence of additional evidence that provides a reasonable basis for that action. It simply means that the officer ought to be able to make- a brief stop to inquire about the driver’s fitness to operate a vehicle, given the*722 public interest in ensuring that unsafe drivers be taken off the road promptly.” The Superior Court correctly held that reasonable suspicion- existed to stop West for possible driving-under ’the influence.
Bloomingdale supports my view. The suspected violation there was not driving under the influence, but rather “moving violations.”
By attempting to avoid the undesirable result of -its conclusion — that a reasonable suspicion of driving under the influence justifies a more intrusive DUI-related investigative detention — the Majority runs head-first into the long line of cases that say that the scope of the detention and investigation must be tailored to the purpose of the stop. The Majority’s attempt to soften that blow is inconsistent with this established case law, as well as Bloomingdale. Instead, it is more consistent with the application of the community caretaker doctrine, permitting an -officer to seize a driver simply to inquire about his or her fitness to operate an automobile.
A. Factual and Procedural Background
In my view, justifying the stop based upon Officer Gaul’s mistaken belief that West had committed a moving violation is more consistent with what happened in this case. At approximately 2:00 a.m. on June 22, 2014, Officer Gaul observed a vehicle traveling westbound on Route 273 that “was kind of driving a little bit erratically.” The vehicle was “drifting back and
At the time when Officer Gaul pulled West over, it was not his intention to write her a ticket. Rather, according to the officer, the purpose of the stop was to perform “a welfare check,” in part because it was 2:00 a.m. and “operators are tired or whatever.” Upon making contact with West, and after further investigation, Officer Gaul arrested her for driving under the influence and for making an illegal lane change.
At the hearing on West’s motion to suppress, Officer Gaul testified that he believed that West had failed to maintain her lane when she narrowly avoided colliding with the median adjacent to the Route 1 on-ramp.
B. Officer Gaul’s Mistake of Fact was Reasonable
The “ultimate touchstone of the' Fourth Amendment is reasonableness.”
When determining the constitutional reasonableness of a traffic stop the “actual motivations of the individual officers involved” are of no moment.
But “[t]o be reasonable is not to be perfect, and so the Fourth Amendment allows for some mistakes on the part of government officials, giving them ‘fair leeway for enforcing the law in the community’s protection.’ ”
In my view, it would be objectively reasonable for a law enforcement official in Officer Gaul’s position to think that West had failed to remain within a single lane in violation of 21 Del. C. § 4122(1).
C. Reasonable Suspicion of Driving Under the Influence is Found by the Appellate Courts Only
The Superior Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Common Pleas on the basis of the community caretaker doctrine, but commented that West’s driving could give rise to a reasonable suspicion that a driver was impaired.
Police officers have the expertise to “draw[] inferences and make[] deductions” that “might well elude an untrained person.”
D. Conclusion
Does a jerking of the wheel accompanied by some weaving within a lane now provide reasonable suspicion of driving under the influence? Are we now at risk of being stopped and investigated for driving under the influence if we weave within our lane while trying to find the defroster and jerk the wheel, or if we spill coffee on ourselves and swerve within our lane? Are we then subject to being pulled over and having to recite the alphabet from “E” to “P,” count backwards from 69, walk in a straight line while touching the heel of one foot to the toe of the other, and balance on one foot while keeping our hands at our sides?
. Heien v. North Carolina, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 530, 536, 190 L.Ed.2d 475 (2014) (citing Brendlin v. California, 551 U.S. 249, 255-59, 127 S.Ct. 2400, 168 L.Ed.2d 132 (2007)).
. Id. (quoting Navarette v. California, — U.S. -, 134 S.Ct. 1683, 1687-88, 188 L.Ed.2d 680 (2014)).
. — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 530, 190 L.Ed.2d 475 (2014).
. Id. at 536.
. Navarette, 134 S.Ct. at 1687 (quoting United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 417-18, 101 S.Ct. 690, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981)) (internal quotation marks omitted).
. See Florida v. J.L., 529 U.S. 266, 271, 120 S.Ct. 1375, 146 L.Ed.2d 254 (2000) (“The reasonableness of official suspicion must be measured by what the officers knew before they conducted their search.” (emphasis added)).
. The Majority appears to go even further than the arguments advanced by the State in its answering brief submitted to this Court. See Ans. Br. 15 ("Thus, immediately after the lawful stop, [Officer] Gaul was presented with additional facts supporting a reasonable belief that West was operating her motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. The continued investigation resulting in her arrest was justified.” (emphasis added)). The State seems to refrain from collapsing the pre- and post-stop events, and thus avoids the conclusion reached by the Majority that, prior to the stop, there was a reasonable basis to believe that West was impaired by alcohol. The State’s appropriately restrained position is also evident from its closing argument at trial, during which it stated: "Also[,] Corporal Gaul’s testimony wasn’t necessarily that he believed she was under the influence at that time. He just believed that there was something wrong and so he stopped in order to lend assistance. And at that point [,] once he spoke to the [d]defendant [,] it progressed into the DUI investigation." Transcript of Trial at 114, State v. West, Cr. ID. No. 1406017464 (Del.Com.Pl. Jan. 13, 2015) (emphasis added) (alterations added).
. Hiibel. v. Sixth Judicial Dist. Court of Nevada, 542 U.S. 177, 188, 124 S.Ct. 2451, 159 L.Ed.2d 292 (2004) (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)) (internal quotation marks omitted). The State acknowledges that ”[t]he duration and execution of a traffic stop is necessarily limited by the initial purpose of the stop.” Ans. Br. 14 (quoting Caldwell v. State, 780 A.2d 1037, 1047 (Del.2001)) (internal quotation marks omitted) (alteration added).
. The Superior Court found that "reasonable suspicion arose to justify continuing the traffic stop beyond the initial contact with [the defendant.” West v. State, 2015 WL 5121059, at *4 (Del.Super.Aug. 20, 2015) (emphasis added). Thus, its decision is more appropriately read to mean that a DUI investigation encompassing field sobriety tests was not justified based on the events leading up to the stop. Referring to West’s glassy, bloodshot eyes and the odor of alcohol when she spoke, the Superior Court concluded that "there was reasonable suspicion of [driving under the influence] to justify extending the stop to administer field sobriety tests.” Id. (emphasis added). I would not give its subsequent "note” that West’s conduct “could give rise to reasonable suspicion that the driver [wa]s impaired” such weight as to undercut its earlier, above-quoted analysis. Id. (citations omitted).
. 19 A.3d 287 (Del.2011); see also id. at 293 (holding that an odor of alcohol and a traffic violation, standing alone, do not constitute probable cause for a DUI). Here, we have no actual traffic violation, but rather weaving
. Id. at 295 (citation omitted).
. See Rodriguez v. United States, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 1609, 1614, 191 L.Ed.2d 492 (2015) (“Like a Terry stop, the tolerable duration of police inquiries in the traffic-stop context is determined by the seizure’s ‘mission’— to address the traffic violation that warranted the stop, and attend to related safety concerns.” (internal citations omitted)); id. ("Because addressing the infraction is the purpose of the stop, it may last no longer than is necessary to effectuate th[at] purpose." (internal quotation marks omitted) (internal citation omitted) (alteration in Rodriguez)); see also Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 500, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983) (plurality opinion) ("The scope of the detention must be carefully tailored to its underlying justification.”).
. The officer may also check the driver’s license, determine whether there are outstanding warrants against the driver, and inspect the vehicle’s registration and proof of insurance. Rodriguez, 135 S.Ct. at 1615 (citing Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 658-60, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979)) (internal citations omitted).
. Bloomingdale v. State, 842 A.2d 1212, 1219 (Del.2004).
. Id. at 1222 (emphasis added).
. I nonetheless agree with the Majority’s apparent reluctance to affirm on the basis of the community caretaker doctrine. That doctrine, prior to this case, has never been applied in Delaware to justify a stop of a moving vehicle. The community caretaker function, as described by the United States Supreme Court in Colorado v. Bertine, 479 U.S. 367, 107 S.Ct. 738, 93 L.Ed.2d 739 (1987), South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976), and Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433, 93 S.Ct. 2523, 37 L.Ed.2d 706 (1973), did not involve investigative stops and seizures. Rather, those cases involved the admissibility of incriminating evidence discovered during a standard police procedure of inventorying property that had been properly taken into custody. A majority of States appear to have adopted the community caretaker doctrine in some form. Many recognize, however, that the community care-taking function must be cautiously applied to minimize the risk of pretextual traffic stops. See, e.g., Trejo v. State, 76 So.3d 684, 689 (Miss.2011) (quoting State v. Rinehart, 617 N.W.2d 842, 844 (S.D.2000)) ("[C]ourts must carefully analyze the totality of the circumstances, so that the community caretaking function is cautiously and narrowly applied in order to minimize the risk that it will be abused or used as a pretext for conducting an investigatory [stop and] search for criminal evidence.” (internal quotation marks omitted) (alterations in Trejo and added)); State v. Rincon, 122 Nev. 1170, 147 P.3d 233, 237 (2006) ("In adopting the community caretaking doctrine, we reiterate that the exception will be narrowly applied and an inquiry stop is justified only where there are clear indicia of an emergency.” (citations omitted)).
. See, e.g., Charge History Record, State v. West, Cr. ID. No. 1406017464 (Del.Com.Pl. Mar, 31, 20IS) (identifying June 22, 2014 charge for failing to remain within a single lane); Information by the A.G., State v. West, Cr. ID. No. 1406017464 (Del.Com.Pl. Aug. 22, 2014) ("TRACEY N [sic] WEST, on or about the 22nd day of June, 2014, in the County of New Castle, State of Delaware, did operate a vehicle upon a public roadway which has been divided into two or more clearly marked lanes of traffic, and did fail to remain in her lane of travel until movement to another lane could be made with safety.”); Court Transfer Letter, State v. West, Cr. ID. No. 1406017464 (Del. J.P. Ct. July 9, 2014) ("Failed to remain within a single lane[,]”).
. A23; see also id, (Q. "Did she leave her "lane [when attempting to merge onto Route 1]?” A. “Yes, I believe she did.”); A24 (Q. “Is it your position that she leaves her lane as she’s turning onto the ramp?” A. “Well, it's a single lane, so, yes; I would say yes.”); A27 (Q. "Now is it your Contention that she drove on the line or over the line?" A. "You know, from what I saw,. I saw the spontaneous jerking back into the lane. I would say, you know, she came close to the line if not crossing it.”); A28 (Q. "Can we agree that the video shows that there’s a-gap between the markings on the lane and that concrete median?” A. "Yes.” Q. “Based on, if you can remember, on your knowledge and experience as a state trooper for ten years, can you tell us approximately how far away from the center median that line would be?” A. "I do not — you know, I can’t be exact. In an area like that[,] it’s maybe three or four feet. It’s not far.” Q. "Far enough for a tire to cross over without breáking the — ” A. "Yes.”); A35 (The Court: "Did you observe her actually depart from her lane of travel?” A, ('Well, from what I saw when the [sic ] merging onto Route 1 there and the turn which is in, I guess, dispute here, the sudden jerking because it was two lanes there where they came in, the turn lane from 273 westbound and also eastbound' had merged, It appeared that when she made that turn she turned a lot and then came back into her lane, alrriost striking the median.”).
. Riley v. California, — U.S.-, 134 S.Ct. 2473, 2482, 189 L.Ed.2d 430 (2014) (quoting Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398, 403, 126 S.Ct. 1943, 164 L.Ed.2d 650 (2006)) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Wheeler v. State, 135 A.3d 282, 296 (Del.2016).
. Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 696, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996).
. 745 A.2d 856 (Del.1999).
. Id. at 862.
. Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 813, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996); see also Heien, 135 S.Ct. at 539 (citing Whren, 517 U.S. at 813, 116 S.Ct. 1769) ("We do not examine the subjective understanding of the particular officer involved..”).
. Whren, 517 U.S. at 813, 116 S.Ct. 1769 (quoting Scott v. United States, 436 U.S. 128, 138, 98 S.Ct. 1717, 56 L.Ed.2d 168 (1978)) (internal quotation marks omitted).
. Id. at 817-18, 116 S.Ct. 1769 (quoting Prouse, 440 U.S. at 654-55, 659, 99 S.Ct. 1391) (internal quotation marks omitted) (internal citations omitted) (alterations in Whren).
. Heien, 135 S.Ct. at 536 (quoting Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 176, 69 S.Ct. 1302, 93 L.Ed. 1879 (1949)).
. Id. at 539 (citing Whren, 517 U.S. at 813, 116 S.Ct. 1769) (emphasis in original).
. Id. at 536.
. Id. (quoting Brinegar, 338 U.S. at 176, 69 S.Ct. 1302).
. 21 Del. C. § 4122(1) provides that, “[w]henever any roadway has been divided into 2 or more clearly marked lanes for traffic,” "[a] vehicle shall be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane and shall not be moved from such lane until the driver has first ascertained that such movement can be made with safety.”
. The Superior Court commented that:
Although the Court [of Common Pleas] ... based its opinion on the community caretaker doctrine, we note that an officer’s observation of a vehicle weaving from side to side, albeit within a lane, and making sharp corrective turns to maintain the lane, for a distance of three to four miles at 2:00 a.m. could give rise to reasonable suspicion that the driver is impaired, and would justify initiating a traffic stop on the vehicle.
West, 2015 WL 5121059, at *4 (citations omitted).
. The Superior Court’s comment contains a footnote citing eleven cases. None is a decision by a Delaware court. Rather, they are decisions from Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, California, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, and Oregon. The decisions from other States generally support the proposition that weaving within a lane could justify an investigatory stop of a vehicle. But other cases hold that more is needed to justify an investigatory stop. See, e.g., Amundsen v. Jones, 533 F.3d 1192, 1199 (10th Cir.2008) ("There are limits, however, on the extent to which weaving can serve-as a factor creating reasonable suspicion of driving under the influence. For instance, an isolated incident of crossing into another lane will not ordinarily create reasonable suspicion of driving while impaired. Nor will weaving within a lane, without more, ordinarily create reasonable suspicion of driving under the influence.” (internal citations omitted)); Rowe v. State, 363 Md. 424, 769 A.2d 879 (2001) (reversing lower court decision that upheld a traffic stop where driver was "weaving off the highway” and where the officer stated that the incident occurred when it was late and at a time when "people are coming home from bars and are getting tired”).
. See, e.g., Malloy v. State, 462 A.2d 1088 (Del.1983) (upholding an .investigatory stop where police officers observed a "possible equipment defect” and saw the driver leave a tavern, make a "wide turn onto the road[,]” drive "erratically[,j” weave "across lanes and within [his] own lane for. lii miles”); State v. McNeil, 2012 WL 3834902 (Del.Super.Aug. 21, 2012) (finding that officers had reasonable suspicion that the driver of a vehicle was impaired where the officers observed the driver commit several minor traffic violations,.but decided to stop the vehicle after it swerved within its lane three to four times and drove with its turn signal on "for an extended period of time”); State v. Anderson, 2010 WL 4056130 (Del.Super.Oct. 14, 2010) (holding that an officer had a reasonable and articula-ble suspicion that a driver was engaged in conduct that could constitute a traffic offense where the driver, within the span of a one- and-a-half mile distance, "modestly” drifted out of his lane-on at least two occasions, made "several 'sharp' corrections in order to keep his vehicle within the designated lane markings[,]” and narrowly avoided striking another vehicle). Opinions of the Court of Common Pleas vary as to whether fact patterns involving weaving within a lane would support reasonable suspicion.
. Cortez, 449 U.S. at 418, 101 S.Ct. 690.
. See Transcript of Trial at 33-39, State v. West, Cr. ID. No, 1406017464 (Del.Com.Pl. Jan. 13, 2015) (indicating that Officer Gaul required. West to recite the alphabet from “E” to "P," count backwards from 69,. walk in a straight line while touching the heel of one foot to the toe of the other, and balance on
. Birchfield v. North Dakota, — U.S. -, -, 136 S.Ct. 2160, 195 L.Ed.2d 560, 2016 WL 3434398, at *19 (2016) (quoting Mackey v. Montrym, 443 U.S. 1, 17, 99 S.Ct. 2612, 61 L.Ed.2d 321 (1979)) (alterations in Birchfield).
. Id.