In general the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects an individual from searches and seizures absent a warrant based on probable cause. One exception to the warrant requirement is for a temporary detention based on reasonable suspicion. Another is for detentions made in connection with an officer s exercise of a community caretaking function. The community caretaking function is based on and arises out of the multiple roles a peace officer performs. Officers enforce the law, gather evidence, and investigate criminal and some non-criminal activity.
Officers also perform various duties related to community caretaking.
An officer might stop to assist a person who needs help. Whether someone needs help is determined by whether a reasonable person would believe that another needed assistance from the totality of circumstances. Factors such as the nature and level of the person s distress, where the person is found, whether the person is alone or has access to other assistance, and the extent to which the person is a danger to himself or others, may be used to evaluate whether an officer s intervention is reasonable. In this case the office saw the defendant s car, with the engine running, stopped in front of a road barrier. The passenger was out of the car, looking at the barrier, and no one else was in the vicinity.