They say that if Mama ain't happy, then no one is happy. If I were a cop (I shudder to contemplate such a thing) and I pulled my wife over , I don't think I would arrest her. I probably would take her keys and drive her home. But that is not what happened in Elko.
A charge of driving under the influence against Elko County sheriff's deputy Charlotte Moore has been dismissed, about a month after her vehicle was stopped by her husband.
The Assistant City Attorney decided not to proceed with the charges against Moore, 36, of Spring Creek because he couldn't determine whether Moore's husband, sheriff's deputy Mike Moore, had probable cause to stop her vehicle.
"There were three or four different versions of the grounds for those stops," Coyle said. "It was not established there was reasonable suspicion of criminal activity."
Without probable cause to make the stop, all other evidence in the case would be suppressed, Coyle said.
According to a witness statement from Mike Moore, he stopped his wife's Pontiac Grand Am and warned her not to drive around if she had been drinking. He said she told him she "had not been drinking for some time," according to the report. He let her leave, thinking she would go home, he said in the report.
He then followed her to see where she was going, he said in his statement. He said she went to The G bar, and "let a male person out of the back seat."(I'll bet her hubby wasn't happy.) He said he tried to stop her vehicle again at Sixth and Silver streets and she drove off. He contacted dispatch and told them a vehicle was failing to stop, he said. A third traffic stop was made at Sixth and Douglas streets, where Elko city police responded.
Police Chief Mike Smith said Elko police proceeded with the arrest based on the probable cause given by Mike Moore. Moore made statements to police that he stopped his wife and she was drunk. Officer Larry Kidd said after his arrival he saw the Moores arguing and asked Mike Moore to leave.
Mike Moore later returned to the scene and spoke with Kidd. He told Kidd when he originally saw the vehicle, he did not know who was driving and thought it may have been stolen.
Charlotte Moore told police she had been drinking, according to police reports.
She also smelled of alcohol and failed some portions of a field sobriety test, according to reports. She blew a .114 in a portable breathalyzer test. She later recorded .102 and .096 in breath sample tests, reports said. The legal blood alcohol limit is .08.
Mike Moore later alleged he stopped the vehicle because it made an improper left turn, Coyle said. His witness statement does not list a probable cause for stopping his wife.
The charges were dismissed.
Coyle said it is a rare for cases to be dismissed this way. "Sometimes cases aren't pursued due to proof problems concerning the probable cause issue," Coyle said.
Charlotte Moore's attorney, Sherb Macfarlan, said "I would not say it is uncommon.
I think her attorney did a great a job. Sometimes in the "interest of justice," cases are not pursued. In this case we have a cop that let his wife go at first; then, she lets a guy out of her back seat at a bar. Then he lies to his dispatcher so that she is pulled over. He said he did not recognize who was driving. I think it was the right decision for this case to go away. I'll bet this past holiday season, the Moore's were satisfied by less.
