Court Opinion

ID: 9717849
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:11:35.431155+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:55.785598
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Justice,
concurring in result.
I believe one of the primary purposes of the provision in Section 39-10-71, N.D.C.C., requiring the arresting officer to “be in uniform, prominently displaying his badge of office, and his vehicle ... appropriately marked showing it to be an official police vehicle” is to alert the person pursued that it is a police officer who is in pursuit and not, for example, a highway robber. If that is a primary purpose of the provision, then indeed it is inconsistent to conclude, on the one hand, that Erdman cannot be convicted of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer but, on the other hand, to conclude that Erdman is guilty of criminal mischief because there is sufficient evidence to prove Erdman knew he was being pursued by police officers, but nevertheless refused to stop his vehicle and drove into a beanfield to elude them. However, I assume that the majority opinion is construing the language in Section 39-10-71 as mandatory rather than directory and, furthermore, is holding that as a matter of public policy the requirements therein concerning identification of police officers and their vehicles are to be adhered to before a violation of the statute will be upheld. Although it may be questioned whether or not the Legislature intended such a result, it is a permissible legislative policy and I therefore concur in the result.
GIERKE, J., concurs.