An officer had reasonable suspicion to make a traffic stop where he witnessed the defendants car accelerate and lose traction for a distance of twenty to twenty-five feet. Although a loss of traction is not itself a Vehicle Code violation, that circumstance along with the time (the early morning hours) and location (on a street adjacent to a college campus) were sufficient to raise a reasonable suspicion that a violation of the Vehicle Code had occurred or was occurring. Furthermore, a campus police officer has jurisdiction under Penal Code section 830.2 to enforce the law throughout the state, and neither the language of Education Code section 89560 nor the constitutional sovereignty of charter cities limits the jurisdiction of campus police to within one mile of a college campus.
Case Summaries