Court Opinion

ID: 9514702
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:51:18.856385+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:20.268629
License: Public Domain

AMUNDSON, Justice
(dissenting).
[¶ 19.] The majority is now adopting a new exception to the Fourth Amendment — ’the community caretaking exception. Under the facts of this case, this exception should not be embraced. The majority relies on three cases: State v. Brown, 509 N.W.2d 69 (N.D.1993); State v. Garbin, 325 N.J.Super. 521, 739 A.2d 1016 (1999); and State v. Goetaski, 209 N.J.Super. 362, 507 A.2d 751 (1986), which are neither dispositive nor persuasive.1 In fact, in reviewing these cases, it becomes evident that they are clearly distinguishable.
[¶ 20.]'In Garbin police were dispatched to defendant’s residence because smoke was emanating from the defendant’s garage area. Believing there to be a fire, the police entered the garage to find defendant inside his car spinning the tires. Defendant was noticeably drunk and was arrested for DUI. The standard employed by the court in determining the applicability of. *846the community caretaking exception was whether the officer had a “reasonable basis for concern.” In Garbín, the officers were called to the scene, they personally observed smoke and could logically conclude a fire was present. These facts support a “reasonable basis for concern.” The court found that “[u]nder these circumstances, the police officers would have been remiss in the performance of then-community caretaking responsibilities if they had failed to investigate further.” Garbin, 739 A.2d at 1019. Thus, based on an objective standard the officers had a reasonable basis for concern.
[¶ 21.] In Goetaski, an officer observed a vehicle traveling at less than ten miles an hour on the shoulder of a public highway with its left-turn blinker on at 4 a.m. The officer followed the vehicle for one-tenth a mile before making a stop. While driving on the shoulder is not a violation of a statute, it is “designed for emergency use but not ordinarily to be used for vehicular travel.” NJSA 39:1-1. The Court found that based on these facts, the officer had a reasonable belief that something was out of the ordinary, and that “[p]eople don’t drive on the shoulder of the road, especially with their left turn signals on in the middle of the night in a rural area if there’s not something wrong.” Goetaski, 507 A.2d at 752. Thus, the officer had a “reasonable concern,” that the car had malfunctioned, for making the stop.
[f 22.] In Brown, the North Dakota Supreme Court addressed the community caretaker exception and found that it did not apply when the officer’s assertion of community caretaking was merely pretex-tual. The trial court discounted the officer’s testimony that he thought he had seen smoke coming from Brown’s vehicle and that Brown’s vehicle was traveling at a slow rate of speed. The North Dakota Supreme Court determined that the officer’s reason for pulling over the vehicle was to investigate a DUI and, therefore, traditional Fourth Amendment standards governed the stop. While the Brown court was willing to recognize the community caretaking exception, on the facts presented such an exception did not apply.
[¶ 23.] Garbín, Goetaski and Brown all reinforce the notion that an officer must investigate dangerous situations. As this Court recognizes, there are certain circumstances where an officer’s duties include acting outside the criminal investigation context. But this call to duty, nonetheless, does not diminish constitutional safeguards inalienable to all persons. Thus, it could be said that there must be an objective reasonable basis or “reasonable concern” by the officer before a stop is legally justified under the Fourth Amendment, regardless of the situation.2
[¶24.] This Court has previously discussed Fourth Amendment rights for vehicle stops.
“The stop of an automobile and the detention of its occupants is a seizure within the meaning of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. Spenner v. City of Sioux Falls, 1998 SD 56, ¶ 13, 580 N.W.2d 606, 610 (citing Delaivare v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979)). Law enforcement “may not stop a vehicle without a reasonable suspicion for doing so. ” Id. (citing Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)). “However, it should be emphasized that the reasonable suspicion required to make a stop is less than the probable cause required to issue a warrant or make an arrest.” Id. (citing State v. Lownes, 499 N.W.2d 896, 898 (1993)). “The existence of reasonable suspicion is a question of law which is fully reviewable by this Court.” Lownes, 499 N.W.2d at 898. *847[T]he factual basis required to support a stop for a “routine traffic check” is minimal.... All that is required is that the stop be not the product of mere whim, caprice, or idle curiosity. It is enough if the stop is based upon “specific and articulable facts which taken together with references from those facts, reasonably warrant [the] intrusion[.]”
Spenner, 1998 SD 56 at ¶ 14, 580 N.W.2d at 610-11 (alterations in original) (quoting State v. Krebs, 504 N.W.2d 580, 585 (S.D.1993)).
[¶ 25.] Turning our attention to the case at hand, Officer DeBoer stated that he was concerned that Rinehart may have been experiencing a stroke or that the vehicle had malfunctioned. Neither assumption is reasonable. If Rinehart was experiencing any type of physical- onset, the vehicle would not have remained within the lane in which Rinehart was driving. Some sort of erratic movements of the car would have been observed if Rinehart was under physical impairment. The record does not indicate such circumstances existed. Nor did the trial court rely on a violation of SDCL 32-25-5.1 a basis to stop Rinehart.3
[¶ 26.] Likewise, Officer DeBoer had no objective reasonable belief that Rinehart’s car had malfunctioned. Smoke coming from the car was not observed; auto parts were not dropping from underneath the car; Rinehart did not have his flashers on indicating trouble nor was Rinehart flagging down the officer to request help. All Officer DeBoer saw was a car moving at a pace within the prescribed speed limit.
[¶ 27.] A vehicle traveling within the posted speed but 15 mph below the speed limit is not a reasonable indication that police -intervention is warranted. “The mere fact that a driver is traveling at a slower than usual speed on a roadway does not by itself create a reasonable suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or other illegal activity.” State v. Brown, 509 N.W.2d 69, 71 (N.D.1993). In other words, Officer DeBoer must have had an objective basis to stop Rinehart’s vehicle. This is true whether the stop is part of the community caretaking function or to investigate criminal activity. Thus, extrinsic objective evidence must demonstrate that illegal activity is afoot or community care-taking is needed before an officer can make a constitutionally permissible stop.
[¶ 28.] Because Officer DeBoer had no independent articuable facts that Rine-hart’s car had malfunctioned or that Rine-hart was in physical peril, he had no legal justification to pull him over. “[H]owever well-intentioned the stopping may have been in this case, the risk for abuse is real.” Doheny v. Comm, of Public Safety, 368 N.W.2d 1, 2 (Minn.App.1985). The risk of abuse, in this case, cannot be overcome by mere whim no matter how heartfelt the officer may be. An objective standard, where articuable facts are proffered, is the only benchmark for which we judge whether a search or seizure is consistent with the auspices of the Fourth Amendment. An officer’s subjective motive cannot supplant objective “reasonableness” of the Fourth Amendment.
[¶ 29.] This Court has gone too far. This Court’s pronouncement all but vitiates any Fourth Amendment protection. Officers in training will be taught to use the magic language at trial: “I was acting in my community caretaking capacity when I stopped the defendant’s vehicle.” As endorsed by this Court, employment of *848such a maneuver would allow police carte blanche power to stop anyone, at any time, for any reason. Certainly, a citizen’s constitutional right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure should not depend on a catch phrase of the arresting officer. With the adoption of this rule, under these facts, a police state is not too far away. An officer is always acting within a community caretaking function whether investigating a crime or helping an elderly lady cross the street. The rule announced today begs the question: when is an officer not acting within its community caretaking function?
[¶ 30.] Therefore, I dissent.

. In reviewing the' authorities relied upon by the majority, no decision defines what conduct does or does not constitute "community caretaking.” It is fair to assume, however, that whenever a police officer is on duty, he or she is performing a community caretaking function. Thus, the community caretaking exception swallows the rule for Fourth Amendment protection.

. An "objective reasonable basis” or "reasonable concern" should not be confused with the legal standard of reasonable suspicion. If the Court is to adopt the "community caretak-ing” exception, then it must have some objective standard. Not only does the majority’s opinion support the "community caretaking” exception, but also because of the deficient factual basis to make such a stop, it adopts a subjective standard, relying solely on what *847Officer DeBoer later claimed he actually thought.

. As the facts indicate, it was 1 a.m. and the only traffic in the vicinity was Officer DeBoer and Rinehart. There is nothing in the record to support that the stop was reasonable because no impeding actually occurred. Likewise, the potentiality of a violation of a statute is not the test. If it were, then almost all stops would be valid based on the potentiality to violate traffic ordinances. Nowhere in the statute does it read that the potentiality of impeding traffic is a violation. Thus, the majority is left with reasonable suspicion of DUI as its sole basis to stop Rinehart’s vehicle. Under the majority's holding, driving 15 mph under the speed limit equates to reasonable suspicion. I agree with other courts that have held slow speed, by itself, is not enough to make a legally justifiable stop under the Fourth Amendment. See infra.