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Wisconsin high court ruling on police window knock

Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin Supreme Court is set to rule on whether police can legally knock on the window of a car and ask the occupant to lower the window.

The case to be decided Friday deals with instances in which police make such a request when there is no probable cause or reasonable suspicion that a law has been broken.

The case involves a man who pulled his vehicle into a Cassville public boat landing at 1 a.m. on Christmas Day in 2011. An officer who saw the car testified that because of the time of year and time of night, he considered it suspicious and approached.

The driver was subsequently convicted of drunken driving, but an appeals court overturned it saying the officer's action was an unreasonable seizure.

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