Court Opinion

ID: 9782067
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 17:55:55.610411+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:46.403114
License: Public Domain

Pierron, J.,
dissenting: I respectfully dissent.
The touchstone of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence is reasonableness. When judging if an officer’s actions violate our constitutional bar against unreasonable searches and seizures, we look to the facts of the case and ask ourselves what a reasonable police officer would and should do under the circumstances.
In this case the officer was told through an anonymous tip that a disturbance had just occurred at a specific location and that a man had left the scene in a white Dodge Neon, saying he was going to the hospital. This occurred close to midnight.
The officer arrived a few minutes later, looked around for a few minutes, and then saw a white Dodge Neon about half a block away. He stopped the Neon, driven by Eric McCaddon, who was driving while intoxicated. McCaddon was also later found to be driving while suspended.
Our question should be, under these circumstances, what should the officer do? There were two reasons to stop the vehicle for a quick check: to see if the person driving the car was involved in the disturbance and to check on his possible need for assistance, since he may have needed hospitalization. Taken together, it would seem they justify a quick investigatory stop.
The officer did not have the advantage of reviewing the facts some years later in a court record. He was required to make a decision right then. The majority indicates the correct response *847was probably to do nothing, for the reasons set out in their analysis. The trial court and I believe the officer took the correct action of initiating a stop to help clear up a fuzzy but possibly dangerous situation. Late night disputes can escalate and the possible need for medical care by a driver is something that may well call for assistance.
There is no evidence that the officer was doing anything except what we would want a police officer to do in a murky situation like this. We do not know everything about the factual background of the dispute and the stated need to go to the hospital. At the time, neither did the officer. But the actions he took were reasonable under the facts. These led to the discovery of two crimes being committed at that time.
I would affirm the trial court’s ruling as I see nothing in the officer’s activities to justify our punishing his actions.