RILEY, J.
While patrolling the parking lot near the Good Neighbor Pharmacy in Gas City, Indiana, Officer McCollum noticed a vehicle parked in a handicap spot that did not have a handicap license plate. He looked inside the car to see if the vehicle had a placard hanging from the rearview mirror, but did not see one. The Officer, however, saw a man sitting in the driver’s seat and a woman getting into the passenger side front seat. The man in the driver’s seat was later identified as Haynes.
Officer McCollum drove past the vehicle to see if a placard was laying on the dash board or some other visible area. By the time Officer McCollum verified that there was no placard visible, he was past the illegally parked vehicle. At that moment, Haynes backed his vehicle out of the parking spot and drove past the Officer. Haynes exited the parking lot and drove west on Fairview Drive. Officer McCollum followed Haynes, activated his emergency lights, and pulled him over.
Officer McCollum approached Haynes’ vehicle and asked Haynes whether he had a placard. Haynes responded that he did not. Officer McCollum asked Haynes for his license to verify Haynes’ identity in order to write him a ticket for illegally parking in a handicap spot. Haynes responded that his driving privileges had been suspended. . . . .
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Here, applying the [Minnesota] Holmes analysis, we find that Officer McCollum had probable cause to believe that Haynes had committed a parking violation: the Officer personally saw it. Further, following the Holmes analysis, we find that Officer McCollum was allowed to stop Haynes to enforce the violation because Haynes was attempting to drive off with an illegally parked car before the Officer could issue the ticket. Moreover, unlike the officer in Holmes, whose search was not done for the purpose of enforcing the parking violation, here, Officer McCollum stopped Haynes solely for the purpose of enforcing the citation. Finally, in Holmes, the police already had enforced the parking violation by issuing the ticket and ordering the tow before searching the driver, whereas, in contrast, Officer McCollum here had no opportunity to enforce the violation prior to making the stop. Officer McCollum was past the vehicle by the time he confirmed his suspicion that Haynes did not have the permit and Haynes already started to pull out of the handicap spot. Therefore, we find that, although the facts of Holmes are distinguishable from the present case, the analysis of the law is applicable here.
As such, we find that Officer McCollum had reasonable suspicion to stop Haynes and therefore the stop was legal. The Officer personally observed that Haynes’ car was illegally parked in the handicap spot. The car had no handicap license plate and no visible permits inside. By the time the Officer confirmed his suspicion, Haynes backed out of the handicap spot and drove off onto the street. To enforce the parking violation, Officer McCollum followed the driver and stopped him later on the street.
KIRSCH, J., and BAILEY, J., concur.