Police were not justified in stopping a car for a cracked windshield because the crack neither blocked the driver’s view nor made the car unsafe, the Second District Court of Appeal held, noting that Florida law does not prohibit driving with a cracked windshield.
Police found marijuana after they stopped Tristan Hilton’s car because it had a seven-inch crack in the upper, tinted corner of the windshield. At a suppression hearing officers testified that they intended to issue Hilton a traffic citation for a cracked windshield. The trial court denied a defense motion to suppress the marijuana, and Hilton appealed.
The Court held that the evidence should have been suppressed because officers lacked reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe Hilton had violated the Florida traffic code.
“Because section 316.2952 merely requires a car to have a windshield, but does not contain requirements for the ‘proper condition’ of the windshield, driving with a cracked windshield would be a traffic violation only if it violated the unsafe condition portion of (statutes),” the DCA said. "(U)nder the circumstances of this case the officers had no authority to stop the car.”
Assistant Attorney General Marilyn Muir Beccue represented the state on appeal. [Hilton v. State, 6/18/04] Opinion #6032