Court Opinion

ID: 9497693
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 16:57:32.239307+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:21.295633
License: Public Domain

HEANEY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I would reverse the district court’s holding that Luker’s statement was admissible under the public safety exception to Miranda.3 New York v. Quarles, 467 U.S. 649, 655-56, 104 S.Ct. 2626, 81 L.Ed.2d 550 (1984).
The government concedes that Luker was in custody and that no Miranda warning was given, but argues the officer’s question-would they find “anything in the car ... that shouldn’t be in there” (Suppression Hr’g Tr. at 18)-was permissible under the public safety exception to Miranda. Quarles, 467 U.S. at 655-56, 104 S.Ct. 2626. The public safety exception applies where there is an “objectively reasonable need to protect the police and the public from any immediate danger.” Id. at 659 n. 8, 104 S.Ct. 2626. Statements are admissible under this exception only if the questions posed are “reasonably prompted by a concern for the public safety.” Id. at 656, 104 S.Ct. 2626. The questions must be necessary to secure the safety of officers or the public, and may not be designed solely to elicit testimonial evidence from a suspect. Id. at 658-59, 104 S.Ct. 2626.
The majority holds that the officer’s night-time search of the car of a known felon involved with methamphetamine permitted questions about dangerous objects in the car. See United States v. Williams, 181 F.3d 945, 953-54 (8th Cir.1999). The officers testified that they were concerned that needles or hazardous chemicals might injure them when they searched the car. The only basis for this concern is the officers’ unsupported assertions. Anamo-sa Police Officer Burkholder stated that Luker was “involved with drugs and narcotics,” (Suppression Hr’g Tr. at 7-8), but did not clarify how he was involved. He also conceded that there was “no outward indication” that there were any drugs or any weapons involved in this stop. (Id. at 10.) Anamosa Police Chief Menard, who actually questioned Luker, explained that he was concerned for his safety when searching the car because he knew that Luker “ha[d] been hanging out with” methamphetamine users.4 (Id. at 17). There are no drug-related arrests or convictions in the record to suggest the majority’s conclusion that Luker had a “history of methamphetamine use.” See ante at 832.
Menard’s belief that Luker associated with drug users did not by itself create an objectively reasonable threat to public safety. While the present case is similar in some respects to Williams, it lacks many of the factors that create concern for the safety of the officers.
Luker was stopped for a traffic offense. No drugs, drug paraphernalia, or weapons were found in the passenger compartment of Luker’s car or on his person in a pat-down search. His involvement with meth*835amphetamine was apparently limited to “hanging out” with methamphetamine users. Cf Williams, 181 F.3d at 954 n. 14 (noting that Williams had been arrested in the past for weapons possession, and was suspected of narcotics trafficking). The officers did not detect any odor of chemicals in the car. Luker was already arrested, handcuffed, and patted down when the officers questioned him. There were no other people in the area that might be harmed by the contents of his car and no one else in the car who might have posed a threat to the police officers.
Admitting Luker’s statement under these circumstances would expand the public safety exception far beyond its original scope. I would reverse the district court and find that Luker’s statement does not fall within the public safety exception.

. Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966).

. Interestingly, Menard also admitted that he asks questions like the one at issue in this case "[primarily ... every time I look through a vehicle." (Id. at 17.) This casts doubt on the majority's assertion that it was Luker's particular circumstances which led to Menard's questioning.