Court Opinion

ID: 9514701
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:51:18.852535+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:20.266681
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice
(dissenting).
[¶ 15.] Although officers may stop a vehicle while exercising their “community caretaking function,” the facts do not justi*845fy applying that concept here. See Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 438, 441, 93 S.Ct. 2523, 2528, 37 L.Ed.2d 706, 714-15 (1973); see also State v, Catlette, 88 S.D. 406, 221 N.W.2d 25, 28 n. 3 (1974). An officer’s subjective explanation for stopping or detaining a driver does not control Fourth Amendment analysis. Courts are required to “make an objective assessment of the officer’s actions” when determining if a stop was reasonable. United States v. Cummins, 920 F.2d 498, 501 (8th Cir.1990) (citing Scott v. United States, 436 U.S. 128, 136, 98 S.Ct. 1717, 1723, 56 L.Ed.2d 168, 177 (1978)).
[¶ 16.] Applying the community caretak-ing exception to the facts of this case ignores the requirement of objective reasonableness when assessing an officer’s actions. Id. Officer DeBoer’s stated “primary justification” for stopping Rinehart, his health, is not sufficiently borne out in the record. DeBoer’s subjective motives, no matter how honestly held, do not affect Fourth Amendment protections. It is vital to recognize that “[t]he ‘community care-taking’ exception should be cautiously and narrowly applied to minimize the risk that it will be abused or used as pretext for conducting an investigatory search for criminal evidence.” Commonwealth v. Waters, 20 Va.App. 285, 456 S.E.2d 527, 530 (1995).
[¶ 17.] Given the absence of support in the record to justify the community care-taking exception, we must determine the validity of this stop under our traditional Fourth Amendment analysis. The purpose of the Fourth Amendment is “not to eliminate all contact between police and the citizenry, but ‘to prevent arbitrary and oppressive interference’ by enforcement officials with the privacy and personal security of individuals.” United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 553-54, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 1877, 64 L.Ed.2d 497, 509 (1980). There must be a balancing of the intrusion on a person’s Fourth Amendment rights against legitimate governmental interests. Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 654, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 1396, 59 L.Ed.2d 660, 667 (1979). To balance these interests, law enforcement must have a reasonable suspicion of a violation to make a brief traffic stop. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 31-32, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1888, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 911 (1968); State v. Cuny, 534 N.W.2d 52, 53 (S.D.1995). An officer must support a stop with an articulable suspicion of a violation. State v. Herrboldt, 1999 SD 55, ¶ 7, 593 N.W.2d 805, 808. DeBoer’s stop of Rinehart’s vehicle is not supported by an articulable suspicion of a violation and was unjustified as a matter of law.
[¶ 18.] I also join Justice AMUNDSON’S dissent.