2/5/16 Arizona Court of Appeals rules that a driver violates traffic law prohibiting vehicle movements when other vehicles could be affected, applies when the other vehicle is a police vehicle.
The police cannot stop any motor vehicle unless they have a constitutionally permitted reason for doing so. If the police do stop a vehicle without a constitutionally permitted reason then the prosecutor cannot use any evidence obtained from the stop, which means in most cases the charges are dismissed. One permitted reason for a stop is that the officer has articulable, reasonable suspicion that the driver has committed a traffic violation.
A.R.S. § 28-754 states: “A. A person shall not . . . move right or left on a roadway unless and until the movement can be made with reasonable safety. A person shall not so turn any vehicle without giving an appropriate signal in the manner provided by this article in the event any other traffic may be affected by the movement. B. A signal of intention to turn right or left when required shall be given continuously during not less than the last one hundred feet traveled by the vehicle before turning.” The statute does not mean that the other driver must be affected; however if the movement could affect the other driver’s decisions as to how to drive, the statute is violated. In the Salcido case the defendant argued that the other vehicle must be something other than a police vehicle. The Court of Appeals disagreed and held there is no reason to say that other vehicle cannot be a police vehicle.
http://www.apltwo.ct.state.az.us/Decisions/CR20150008%20Opinion.pdf
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