Opinion ID: 1758925
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Right to be Left Alone

Text: The 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 1, section 5 of the Louisiana Constitution protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures. Implicit within this protection is a legal restraint upon the police from approaching citizens under circumstances that make it seem that some form of detention is imminent unless they have probable cause to arrest the individual or reasonable grounds to detain the individual. State v. Saia, 302 So.2d 869, 873 (La.1974), cert. den., 420 U.S. 1008, 95 S.Ct. 1454, 43 L.Ed.2d 767 (1975). Admittedly, the police have the right to engage anyone in conversation, even without reasonable grounds to believe that the individual may have committed a crime. Concomitantly: Police conduct involving an encounter with a citizen imposes a restraint only if the police have attempted to encounter or detain a citizen against his will; mere incident of a police officer encountering an individual in a public place does not, in and of itself, restrain an individual's `freedom to walk away.' State v. Duplessis, 391 So.2d 1116 (La.1980). La. Const. Art. I, section 5 provides: Every person shall be secure in his person, property, communications, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches, seizures, or invasions of privacy. No warrant shall issue without probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, the persons or things to be seized, and the lawful purpose or reason for the search. Any person adversely affected by a search or seizure conducted in violation of this Section shall have standing to raise its illegality in the appropriate court. The right to privacy is the right to be left alone, and to live free from unjustified and unreasonable intrusion and interference by governmental interests. It is a fundamental and compelling interest ... It protects our homes, our families, our thoughts, our emotions, our expressions, our personalities, and our freedom of association. Baumhart, J.T. Employer's Right to Read Employee E-mail: Protecting Property or Personal Prying?, 8 Lab.Law. 923, n. 126 (1992)The right to privacy also protects our bodies or autonomy, [1] and our freedom to demand that a life sustaining machine be withheld or withdrawn. [2] To protect that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the state upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, must be deemed a violation of our constitution or the statute or both. State v. Tucker, 626 So.2d 707, 720 (La.1993) (Dissent, Dennis, J.). When a citizen is actually stopped without reasonable cause or if the stop is imminent, the right to be left alone is violated, resulting in an illegal seizure. State v. Tucker, 626 So.2d 707 (La.1993), reh. den., 626 So.2d 720 (La.1993); State v. Raiford, 600 So.2d 924 (La.App. 4 Cir.1992). When Officer Taylor responded to the call of the clergyman, defendant had not committed a crime nor was there reason to believe a crime was about to be committed. At that point he had a constitutional right to pursue his lawful purposes, notwithstanding his bleeding arm.