Judge: No ’sufficient basis’ for stop
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Prosecutors seeking a DUI conviction against Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair received a blow Thursday when a judge ruled the arresting officer didn’t have “sufficient basis” to pull him over. McNair Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Cheryl Blackburn granted McNair’s request to suppress all evidence relating to the May 2003 stop, saying officer Shawn Taylor’s observations did not provide “specific and articulable facts that [the] defendant was driving under the influence.” “The court does not condone any defendant driving a vehicle with a [blood alcohol content] of .18 percent, but this court is compelled to follow constitutional standards and there was not a sufficient basis to justify stopping [the] defendant,” Blackburn wrote. McNair was arrested after an officer noticed him driving his sport utility vehicle in downtown Nashville. His blood alcohol content registered at 0.18 percent, almost twice the 0.10 level then used to define driving under the influence, according to a police report. The level has since been lowered to 0.08 percent. |