Opinion ID: 2355508
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Fresh Pursuit

Text: ¶ 22 Given the inherent mobility of a driving offense, the fresh pursuit doctrine is a necessary means of cooperatively enforcing traffic laws to ensure public safety. Vance v. Dep't of Licensing, 116 Wash.App. 412, 416, 65 P.3d 668 (2003) (citing City of Tacoma v. Durham, 95 Wash.App. 876, 881, 978 P.2d 514 (1999)). It follows that the fresh pursuit doctrine applies to the Lummi Nation because it is a necessary means of actualizing the tribe's power to enforce its internal laws. The power to regulate is only meaningful when combined with the power to enforce. Settler v. Lameer, 507 F.2d 231, 238 (9th Cir.1974). [11] ¶ 23 Division Three of the Court of Appeals, the Lummi Nation, and the Ninth Circuit have all allowed nontribal law enforcement officers to cross jurisdictional boundaries into Indian reservations when in fresh pursuit of suspects. Waters held that 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, DUI, resisting arrest, and driving with a suspended license. [12] 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. ¶ 24 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 that the deputy was trespassing when he followed him to his home in Indian country. The court held that the deputy had observed Patch's reckless driving and had authority to conduct a Terry [13] 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). ¶ 25 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, Dec. & Order at 1-4 (Lummi Tribal Court Jan. 5, 2009). [14] The tribal member filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the deputy did not have jurisdiction to investigate criminal activity on tribal land and that the officer was not covered under the Lummi Nation Code of Laws, Code of Offenses, 5.07.055, which deals with obstructing a public servant as a Law Enforcement Officer. Id. at 2. The court denied the motion, reasoning that 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 that [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. ¶ 26 The doctrine of fresh pursuit has also arisen in cross-jurisdictional cases across national borders. [15] None of the settled law in these areas may be wholly applicable to tribes, however, which are dependent sovereign entities, sometimes subject to the jurisdiction of the State but also not subject to federalism. 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. ¶ 27 Eriksen argues that authorizing Indian tribes to engage in fresh pursuit without compliance with RCW 10.92.020 would nullify Washington's power to make and enforce its own laws (e.g., RCW 10.93.070, .120). Pet'r's Reply Br. at 5-8. This argument misses the mark. RCW 10.92.020 provides a mechanism through which tribal police may become general authority Washington peace officers. Attaining this characterization would permit those tribal officers to engage in statutory fresh pursuit under RCW 10.93.070(6). However, failure to achieve recognition as a general authority Washington peace officer does not bar tribal police officers from fresh pursuit on the grounds articulated above. Similarly RCW 10.93.120(1) permits [a]ny peace officer who has authority under Washington law to make an arrest to proceed in fresh pursuit in order to effectuate that arrest. It does not, however, explicitly bar tribal officers from fresh pursuit to complete a stop initiated on the reservation. [16] ¶ 28 Accordingly, tribal, treaty, and statutory authority do not conflict. If a tribal police officer chooses to become recognized as a general authority Washington peace officer, it would add a statutory justification for fresh pursuit. But tribal police officers may rely on the grounds listed herein to engage in fresh pursuit of suspected drunk drivers first encountered on the reservation. ¶ 29 Our decision today harmonizes with common sense and sound policy. To allow drunk drivers to escape the law by crossing a reservation boundary would unnecessarily endanger lives by incentivizing high-speed dashes for the border. We decline to embrace such a ludicrous result.