California law does not give a simple yes or no. The checkpoint statute requires drivers to stop at a posted checkpoint but does not address drivers who turn off before reaching one, and in the California Supreme Court’s leading checkpoint cases, officers at the Burlingame checkpoint in Ingersoll v. Palmer and the Seal Beach checkpoint in People v. Banks were instructed not to stop, or not to pursue, drivers who simply turned away. Neither case decides whether a lawful turn, alone or together with other facts, can justify a stop, so a disputed stop depends on its facts. A traffic violation during the turn, or obvious signs of impairment, gives an officer a separate reason to stop you.
What the checkpoint statute requires
A driver “shall stop and submit to a sobriety checkpoint inspection” when “signs and displays are posted requiring that stop” (Vehicle Code section 2814.2(a)). The statute says nothing about drivers who turn off before they reach the checkpoint. In upholding the Burlingame checkpoint, the California Supreme Court noted that “sufficient advance notice was provided so a motorist could choose to avoid the checkpoint altogether” (Ingersoll v. Palmer (1987) 43 Cal.3d 1321).
Why a stop after the turn is judged on its own
Ingersoll held that checkpoint stops are judged “not by the standard pertinent to traditional criminal investigative stops,” but under the standard for detentions and inspections conducted as part of a regulatory scheme with an administrative purpose. One of the guidelines it set is that officers in the field do not pick the cars; “a neutral formula” decides which ones are screened. The Court added that letting an officer stop a particular car “when there is no legitimate basis for the determination” would allow the kind of standardless discretion the U.S. Supreme Court has limited. A stop of one car because it turned away is not part of that neutral selection, so the question becomes whether the officer had a legitimate, individualized basis for that stop.
What the checkpoint cases say about drivers who turn away
Under the Burlingame checkpoint’s operational guidelines described in Ingersoll, “no motorist was to be stopped merely for choosing to avoid the checkpoint.” A footnote states the other half of those guidelines: “Cars avoiding the checkpoint would be stopped, however, if in avoiding the checkpoint the driver did anything unlawful, or exhibited obvious signs of impairment.” A later case describes a different checkpoint run the same way: “Officers were instructed not to pursue motorists who turned their vehicles away before reaching the checkpoint” (People v. Banks (1993) 6 Cal.4th 926). Banks held that a checkpoint run without advance publicity, but otherwise following Ingersoll’s guidelines, is not an unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment; the instruction about drivers who turn away is part of the facts it recited, not its holding. Both passages describe how those agencies ran their checkpoints, not a rule the Court imposed on every checkpoint.
What can give an officer a reason to stop you
Two things give an officer an individualized reason that does not depend on the checkpoint at all: a traffic violation committed while you make the turn, such as a U-turn where one is prohibited, and obvious signs of impairment while you avoid the checkpoint. Either can support the kind of ordinary traffic stop that could happen anywhere else in California, checkpoint or not.
What this means in a real stop
Whether a particular stop was lawful turns on the facts: what the officer says prompted it, where you were relative to the checkpoint and its signs, whether the turn itself was legal at that spot, and anything else that happened along the way. Neither the statute nor these cases settles whether the turn alone, or the turn plus other facts, is enough, so do not assume either answer. Write down what you remember as soon as you can, including precisely what reason the officer gave.
Talk to a lawyer about your stop
If you were stopped after turning away from a DUI checkpoint, the Law Offices of David S. Chesley can review what the officer says prompted the stop and whether it was a lawful basis for it. The firm can be reached at (800) 755-5174.