Rodríguez Lamberty v. Secretary of Public Works
Rodríguez Lamberty v. Secretary of Public Works
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
The sworn statement given on January 28, 1959 by police officer Alfonso C. Alvarado describes the violation of 13 of Act No. 279 of 1946 (Sess. Laws, p. 598), as amended by Act No. 95 of June 29, 1954 (Sess. Laws, p. 992) (to operate an automobile while intoxicated), committed by petitioner-appellee as follows: “That on January 22, 1959, at 10:30 p.m., while traveling in my automobile towards the town of Salinas on my way to the ward of Lapa of that town, when I drew near kilometer 31 in a southerly-northerly direction, another vehicle was coming in the opposite direction with strong lights on, and when I dimmed my lights it swerved to the left obstructing my right of way and compelling me to run into the ditch. That when I noticed how it swerved I thought something was wrong and turned back, pursued the automobile and overtook the same in Baldorioty Street of Salinas, P.R.; and when I asked him for his driver’s license I noticed that he was under the effects of intoxicating liquor, wherefore I asked him to come with me to police headquarters of Salinas, P.R., where I asked him to submit to a blood, urine, or saliva analysis and he was agreeable, but when we arrived at the municipal hospital of this town he refused to submit to any tests in the presence of Dr. Ventimilla and police officer Félix Rivera, No. 1312.. .
*247 “That in view of the circumstances above described, I submitted the case to Rafael Burgos, Justice of the Peace of Santa Isabel, P.R., who charged Ramón Rodríguez Lam-berty with violation of § 13 of Act No. 279, Automobile and Traffic Act ... and fixed bond at $300, which he was unable to give and was committed to the district jail of Guayama, P. R.”
On February 3 Judge Rosendo Quesada Velazco transmitted to the Secretary of Public Works the foregoing statement of police officer Alfonso C. Alvarado and driver’s license No. 118385 of appellee Ramón Rodríguez Lamberty, for the purpose of suspending the said license for refusal to submit to blood, urine, or saliva tests in order to determine the amount of alcohol present in the blood. However, on February 11 Judge Rosendo Quesada Velazco acquitted defendant Ramón Rodríguez Lamberty of the offense of driving while intoxicated after receiving Dr. Ventimilla’s testimony to the effect that defendant had not refused in his presence to have the samples taken, and that during the time defendant was in the municipal hospital he showed no signs of being under the effects of intoxicating liquor. However, on February 12, 1959 the Secretary of Public Works wrote a letter to Rodriguez Lamberty suspending his driver’s license.
A hearing having been requested by petitioner-appellee in pursuance of law, the Secretary of Public Works, after receiving proper evidence, reached the following conclusions: (1) that public-peace officer Alfonso C. Alvarado had good and sound reasons to believe that the driver was operating the vehicle under the effects of alcoholic beverages; (2) that that officer arrested driver Rodriguez Lamberty and demanded that he submit to a blood or urine test; (3) that driver Rodriguez Lamberty refused to have the samples taken. Reconsideration having been sought and denied, petitioner-ap-pellee appealed to the Superior Court of Puerto Rico, Ponce Part, which set aside the order cancelling his driver’s
On review before this Court, the Secretary of Public Works urges reversal of the judgment of the Ponce Court alleging that: (1) the conclusion made by the Secretary is not a conclusion of law but a finding on a basic fact; (2) that assuming that the conclusion were one of law, it would have been proper to remand the case to the Secretary for the formulation of pertinent findings of fact; (3) that in reviewing the order of the Secretary of Public Works, the trial court substituted its criterion for that of the said officer notwithstanding the fact that the conclusions made by him were supported by substantial evidence, there being a rational basis for the formulation of such conclusions; (4) that the Ponce Court could not set aside the order of the Secretary of Public V/orks unless he had acted arbitrarily abusing his discretion or had exceeded the powers vested in him by law, and that the Secretary did not commit such fault because the evidence before him showed that the public-peace officer who carried out the arrest had reasonable grounds to believe that the driver was operating the vehicle while intoxicated or under the effects of intoxicating liquor, since he kept making zigzags, stammered when he talked, and could not hold himself straight; (5) that inasmuch as the law vests the public-peace officer with ample discretion to determine what are “reasonable grounds,” the function of the respondent court in reviewing the order of the
1-2. The finding of the Secretary of Public Works in the sense “that public-peace officer Alfonso C. Alvarado had good and founded reasons to believe that the driver was operating the vehicle under the effects of alcoholic beverages,” does not comply with our rule regarding the validity of an administrative finding laid down in López v. Planning Board, 80 P.R.R. 625, 645 (Saldana, 1958), because it fails to set forth “a statement of facts, referring to the basic findings of fact, after settling any conflict in the evidence, as well as to the inferences of fact which in its opinion were ultimately supported by the evidence.” Aside from the meager descriptive value of the facts involved, the Secretary’s conclusion is a mere statement of the context of the Act in that respect. Regarding the remand of the case to the Secretary for formulation of new conclusions, the Act having been amended in order that the judge himself may determine, in passing upon the corresponding violation, the suspension of the license —Act No. 94 of June 21, 1961, 9 L.P.R.A. § 1044 (1961 Supp., p. 276) — it would be futile to pass upon such question at this time.
8-4. This review involves two questions of fact: (1) the legality of the arrest passed upon by the Ponce Court, and (2) the sufficiency of the evidence as to whether or not petitioner-appellee refused to submit to a blood analysis, the only one required of him.
Regarding the legality of the arrest, the verification made by the Ponce Court is correct. The “reasonable ground” alleged by the public-peace officer who carried out the arrest is described by him as follows: “On my way from work to my house in the ward of Cocos in Salinas I saw a car coming in the opposite direction, namely, from the ward of Cocos to Salinas, and when I dimmed the lights the car swerved to the
The car of the person under arrest zigzagged toward the center of the road only before intersecting the automobile of the officer who pursued it afterwards, since the officer himself testified that when he “was drawing near the place where they were, it proceeded along the right.” That the officer did not consider that zigzag alone as a possible violation of the Automobile Act, is shown by the reason given by him for pursuing petitioner-appellee Rodríguez Lamberty.
The Ponce Court held that the short episode described by the officer who carried out the arrest was no reasonable ground or probable cause for the arrest, and we are agreed with that conclusion. We have held that after the adoption of our Constitution a public-peace officer, in a situation such as this, may arrest a citizen without a warrant of arrest issued by competent judicial authority only when he surprises him in the act of committing an offense in frag anti. Pueblo v. Soto, 77 P.R.R. 193, 198 (Belaval, 1954). The arrest of a person without a warrant issued by competent authority being the exception and not the general rule, unless It is made strictly within the statutory provision, it becomes illegal. People v. Santiago, 78 P.R.R. 627, 634 (Belaval, 1955).
The evidence on petitioner-appellee’s refusal to submit to a blood analysis merely shows that Rodriguez Lamberty was willing to comply at all times. The only two wit
5. Administrative discretion is not absolute. No court should be willing to convert the administrative discretion into magic term that would allow arbitrariness. Judgment is discreet if, in addition to being based on reasonability, it is supported by a clear notion of justice in its plain sense.
The judgment appealed from rendered by the Superior Court of Puerto Rico, Ponce Part, on November 13, 1959, will be affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.