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The Pennsylvania Superior Court on Friday upheld the arrest and conviction of an Ephrata man for DUI of alcohol and careless driving in Clearfield County.
About 11:30 p.m. Aug. 4, 2021, state police responded to a complaint that a man, possibly under the influence, was sitting in his truck, parked at the Pilot Travel Center near DuBois.
When arriving at the parking lot, Trooper Tyler Blaniar noticed one of the front tires of the truck was missing, the engine was running and the lights of the truck were on. He also noticed a large scratch mark on the pavement because the motorist was driving his truck on the rim of the missing tire.
Driver Ryan Martin Burgeson, 30, reported he was returning from a wedding and his truck had hit a guardrail.
He also admitted to consuming alcohol at the wedding.
The trooper indicated Burgeson had watery and bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol.
After administering a series of sobriety tests, the officer charged Burgeson with DUI of alcohol and careless driving, among other offenses.
Burgeson, through Clearfield County attorney Christopher Eldon Mohney, challenged his arrest because he contended the sobriety tests did not indicate that there was probable cause for his arrest.
He did not slur his words and he did not show signs of impairment while performing the one leg stand test, according to the defense.
He did, however, show some impairment when administered two other tests.
Burgeson's blood-alcohol content was 0.159 percent, almost twice the legal limit.
The defense filed a pretrial motion to suppress the BAC reading, arguing that the evidence of Burgeson's intoxication did not show probable cause for arrest in the first place.
Clearfield County President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman rejected the motion, stating, "Even though (Burgeson) did not have slurred speech, he showed multiple signs of impairment, including watery, bloodshot eyes, and inability to successfully complete all ... the field sobriety tests, and most importantly, involvement in a single vehicle accident."
The judge explained that "the law is well settled that reasonable grounds to arrest does not require the failure of field sobriety tests"
A Superior Court panel that included Judges Jack A. Panella, John T. Bender and Dan Pelligrini agreed, pointing out Burgeson presented a strong odor of alcohol, had watery and bloodshot eyes and showed signs of impairment during the sobriety tests.
"Taken together, these facts provided (the trooper) with probable cause to arrest," the appeals court opinion concluded
Ammerman sentenced Burgeson to a term of 48 hours to six months in jail on the DUI offense with no further penalty on the charge of careless driving.