Opinion ID: 891642
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: State Officer's Authority to Stop a Vehicle in Indian Country

Text: {15} We are not bound by Defendant's and Amici Curiae's concession regarding Deputy Charley's authority to stop Defendant's vehicle in Indian country. Foster, 1999-NMSC-007, ¶ 25, 126 N.M. 646, 974 P.2d 140. Accordingly, we take this opportunity to examine a state officer's authority to stop a vehicle in Indian country for a traffic violation committed in the officer's presence. {16} We find the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' opinion in Patch to be instructive. The defendant in Patch was Indian, and [a]ll material acts, including the alleged traffic violation, took place in Indian country. 114 F.3d at 132. The state police officer pursued the defendant's vehicle to determine whether the driver was a tribal member, whom [the officer] had no authority to arrest, or a nonmember, whom he could arrest for traffic violations on a state highway. Id. at 132-33. The defendant refused to stop, but drove to his sister's house, where a physical altercation between the defendant and the officer ensued. Id. at 133. As a result, the defendant was charged with simple assault in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 113(a)(5) (1994). On appeal, the defendant claimed that the state police officer had no authority to pursue and stop his vehicle in Indian country. Patch, 114 F.3d at 134. {17} The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals noted that, [a]s a practical matter, without a stop and inquiry, it is impossible for [a state] officer to tell who is operating an offending vehicle. Id. at 133-34. The Court held that such a stop and inquiry is a logical application of Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), because the state officer needed to make only a brief stop to ascertain [the defendant's] identity. Such a stop would be a brief, limited detention to ask one question. Like the stop in Terry, its purpose would further a legitimate law enforcement objective: to determine whether the suspect was a tribal member. [The state officer] had the authority under Terry to stop vehicles ... to determine his jurisdiction to issue a citation. Patch, 114 F.3d at 134.; cf. State v. Schmuck, 121 Wash.2d 373, 850 P.2d 1332, 1335 (1993) (en banc) (holding that tribal sovereignty necessarily includes the authority to stop a driver on the reservation to investigate a possible violation of tribal law and determine if the driver is an Indian, subject to the jurisdiction of that law). {18} We agree with the conclusion of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that a state officer has the authority to stop an offending vehicle in Indian country to determine whether the officer has jurisdiction to investigate and enforce violations of the traffic code. Patch, 114 F.3d at 134. In this case, Deputy Charley observed Defendant speeding off-reservation and throwing a clear bottle of yellow liquid out the passenger side window of his vehicle. Accordingly, Deputy Charley had the authority to stop Defendant's vehicle on the Navajo Reservation to determine the scope of his authority to investigate the off-reservation traffic offenses committed in his presence.