Opinion ID: 2599013
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Police Have Well-Established Authority To Continue Fresh Pursuit onto Reservations and across Jurisdictional Boundaries

Text: ¶ 19 Division Three of the Court of Appeals, the Lummi Nation, and the Ninth Circuit have all allowed nontribal law enforcement to cross jurisdictional boundaries into Indian reservations when in fresh pursuit of suspects. Waters held Omak Police Department officers had authority under the fresh pursuit doctrine to arrest an enrolled member of the Colville Confederated Tribes on the Colville Reservation. 93 Wash.App. at 977-78, 971 P.2d 538. The officers had seen Thomas Waters's car peel away from a stoplight and cross the center line toward police. Id. at 973, 971 P.2d 538. When the officers activated their vehicle's emergency lights, Waters led them on a high-speed chase and finally stopped on tribal reservation property, where they arrested him for felony eluding, DWI, resisting arrest, and driving with a suspended license. [13] Id. Division Three rejected Waters's argument that the officers lacked jurisdiction to stop him: Everybody, with or without probable cause for arrest, is required to stop for the police. RCW 46.61.024. Once the police car displayed its flashing lights, Mr. Waters was required to stop, even in the absence of an infraction. Id. at 978, 971 P.2d 538. ¶ 20 Under the doctrine of hot pursuit, the Ninth Circuit upheld the jurisdiction of a sheriff's deputy who followed a tribal member who had been tailgating the deputy's marked patrol car on a state highway in Indian country. United States v. Patch, 114 F.3d 131, 132-34 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 983, 118 S.Ct. 445, 139 L.Ed.2d 381 (1997). Taylor Patch, a member of the Colorado River Indian Tribe, argued the deputy was trespassing when he followed him to his home in Indian country. The court held the deputy had observed Patch's reckless driving and had authority to conduct a Terry [14] stop to determine if Patch was a tribal member and whether the deputy had jurisdiction to issue a citation. Id. at 134 (citing Schmuck, 121 Wash.2d at 382-83, 850 P.2d 1332 for the proposition that a tribal officer may stop a speeding vehicle if the driver is a tribal member). ¶ 21 The Lummi Tribal Court also recognized the authority of a Whatcom County sheriff's deputy to come onto the reservation in pursuit of a tribal member who allegedly stole from a convenience store outside the reservation. Lummi Nation v. Scarborough, No. 2008-CRCO-2084, slip op. at 1-4 (Jan. 5, 2009). [15] The tribal member filed a motion to dismiss, arguing the deputy did not have jurisdiction to investigate criminal activity on tribal land and the officer was not covered under the Lummi Code of Laws 5.07.055, which deals with obstructing a public servant as a Law Enforcement Officer. Id. at 2. The court denied the motion, reasoning the deputy was attempting to investigate a crime that had taken place off the reservation by unknown individuals. He had no way of knowing whether those individuals were Lummi, non-Native Lummi, or non-Native. Id. at 3. Moreover, the court noted [t]here are many situations that can arise that would result in an officer from a jurisdiction other than Lummi being on the reservation. It stands to reason that those officers should not be obstructed in carrying out their responsibilities any more than a Lummi officer. Id. at 3-4. ¶ 22 The doctrine of fresh pursuit has also arisen in cross-jurisdictional cases across national borders. [16] None of the settled law in these areas may be wholly applicable to tribes, however, which are sovereign entities, sometimes subject to jurisdiction of the state but also not subject to federalism. ¶ 23 In sum, the doctrine of fresh pursuit authorizes nontribal police to cross jurisdictional boundaries into Indian country; the same policy justifying this practice applies to tribal police departments as well.