Court Opinion

ID: 9722107
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:16:52.138212+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:30.652053
License: Public Domain

White, J.,
concurring.
The majority assumes that the police used the lateral vascular neck restraint (LVNR) to effect a search of Thompson. However, the record demonstrates the LVNR was used to arrest Thompson. Thus, the majority’s discussion of the reasonableness of the LVNR as a method of securing a search of a person is not appropriate.
The evidence at the suppression hearing established the following events: Officer Perez left his police car, approached Thompson, and had Thompson place his hands on the police cruiser. Perez asked Thompson to open his mouth and Thompson refused. Perez then shined a flashlight on Thompson’s face and observed “white crumbs” around his mouth. At that time, Perez states, Thompson was not free to leave. Perez again asked Thompson to open his mouth and Thompson refused. Wanting to secure Thompson, Perez told Thompson to place his hands behind his back. Thompson refused, pushed away from the police car, and began to swing his arms. Perez stated that Thompson struggled with him as he attempted to handcuff Thompson. During this struggle, Perez placed Thompson in the LVNR. According to Perez, he used the LVNR to control and handcuff Thompson. After Thompson was handcuffed, Officer Sears wiped a white substance from Thompson’s lips and around his teeth.
The legality of Thompson’s arrest is not argued in this court. The analysis for determining the constitutionality of an arrest is separate and distinct from that used to determine the constitutionality of a search. Whether a police officer has probable cause to make an arrest and whether the officer has exceeded the scope of justified force while making the arrest requires a thorough review of the existing circumstances. See, State v. Moore, 226 Neb. 347, 411 N.W.2d 345 (1987) (stating that a warrantless arrest must be based upon probable cause and that the amount of force used to effectuate the arrest must *204be justified under the circumstances); Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-1412 (Reissue 1989).
Shanahan and Lanphier, J J., join in this concurrence.