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YOUNGSTOWN -- A city man charged with failure to comply with the order of a police officer, a gun specification and obstructing official business has asked Judge Anthony Donofrio of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to suppress evidence.
The evidence, obtained during a traffic stop, is sought to be held on the grounds that a state trooper did not have a lawful cause to make a traffic stop.
The filing states that on Sept. 28, 2022, a trooper tried to make a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by Kaylen H. Gabbidon, 22, of Ravenwood Avenue, for a lanes violation.
The trooper alleged that Gabbidon was "traveling in the middle of the road" and "taking up both westbound lanes."
The filing states, however, that the trooper's dash cam video shows that a short time before the trooper made a traffic stop on Midlothian Boulevard just west of South Avenue, the trooper pulled "to within 40 feet of Mr. Gabbidon's rear bumper."
At the same time, another car was "coming directly at" Gabbidon's vehicle, the filing states. Gabbidon did not cross the center line, but "a few seconds later, as more vehicles approach Mr. Gabbidon, he moves closer to the dotted line while giving more space between himself and and the vehicles traveling at him. It was at this time Mr. Gabbidon briefly crossed the dotted white line," states the filing, submitted by defense attorney Aaron Meikle.
It adds that nothing in the trooper's reports indicates that Gabbidon crossed the center line in a dangerous or suspicious manner. It states that Gabbidon "did not commit a marked lanes violation."
Most lanes violations involve leaving the roadway on the right or crossing the center line, the filing states. In this case, Gabbidon's movement was from one lane to another going the same direction, "and it is not illegal to switch lanes."
HANDGUN FOUND
A hearing on the motion to suppress evidence will be at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
The filing also seeks to have the evidence obtained when Gabbidon's vehicle was searched later, and a handgun was found, suppressed on the grounds that the officer did not have cause to search the vehicle. Gabbidon had exited the vehicle by the time the officer found and searched it, but Gabbidon had not yet been located.
Prosecutors filed a response to the motion, saying the trooper was on the South Side accompanied by a Youngstown police officer when they spotted Gabbidon's vehicle and saw that it had "dark tinted windows." The trooper started following the vehicle on Midlothian Boulevard and saw the vehicle "travel completely over the westbound lane divider into the right lane."
The trooper made a traffic stop and approached the driver's side with the Youngstown officer on the passenger side. They smelled the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle, the filing states. The trooper opened Gabbidon's door for Gabbidon, and Gabbidon put the car in drive and fled at high speed.
The vehicle ran three red lights, and the trooper lost sight of the vehicle, but a highway patrol helicopter was assisting officers a the time, and the helicopter crew advised officers that the vehicle was on Pyatt Street on the South Side, and two suspects fled on foot into the woods.
The trooper found the handgun in the vehicle, and the Youngstown officer searched for the suspects, who were found and detained.
PROBABLE CAUSE
The filing states that the Gabbidon filing admits the vehicle failed to stay in its lane of travel, giving the officer probable cause to make the traffic stop.
Even if the judge determines there was not probable cause for the traffic stop, the stop was reasonable "under the totality of circumstances," the filing states.
"In this case, the reasonableness of the officer's conduct must be determined in light of all of the circumstances. Not only did the defendant fail to drive within the marked lanes of the road, but the officers also observed dark tinted windows."
Even if the officer did not have probable cause to make a traffic stop, "a defendant does not have a right to commit the crime of failure to comply or obstruction of official business," the filing, submitted by Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Marty Hume, adds.
As for finding the gun, the United States Constitution does not require a warrant to search a vehicle when police have probable cause to believe it contains contraband or evidence of criminal activity.
"In this case, the officers had probable cause to search the vehicle because they detected the smell of burnt marijuana in the vehicle," the filing states.
If Gabbidon is convicted of the failure to comply, he could get several years in prison. A charge of failing to drive in marked lanes in Youngstown Municipal Court was dismissed in Oct. 7, the same day his other charges were bound over to a county grand jury.