STATE of Tennessee v. James David MOATS
No. E2010-02013-SC-R11-CD
Supreme Court of Tennessee, at Nashville
March 22, 2013
403 S.W.3d 170
GARY R. WADE, C.J.
Oct. 5, 2012 Session Heard at Athens. Filed March 22, 2013.
STATE of Tennessee v. James David MOATS.
Supreme Court of Tennessee, at Nashville.
Oct. 5, 2012 Session Heard at Athens.1
Filed March 22, 2013.
Matthew C. Rogers (at trial and on appeal), and Randy Rogers (at trial), Athens, Tennessee, for the appellee, James David Moats.
OPINION
GARY R. WADE, C.J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which JANICE M. HOLDER and SHARON G. LEE, JJ., joined. CORNELIA A. CLARK and WILLIAM C. KOCH, JR., JJ., filed a dissenting opinion.
While on routine patrol in the early hours of the morning, a police officer observed a pick-up truck parked in a shopping center lot. Because the truck‘s headlights were turned on, the officer drove into the lot, stopped her patrol car directly behind the truck, and activated her blue lights. Although the officer had seen no indication of criminal activity or distress, she approached the truck, observed a beer can in a cup holder inside, and found the defendant in the driver‘s seat with the keys in the ignition. When she determined that the defendant had been drinking, he was arrested and later convicted for his fourth offense of driving under the influence. The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction, holding that the defendant was seized without either probable cause or reasonable suspicion. While we acknowledge that the activation of blue lights will not always qualify as a seizure, the totality of the circumstances in this instance establishes that the officer seized
I. Facts and Procedural History
A. Suppression Hearing
At approximately 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 2008, Officer Phyllis Bige of the Etowah Police Department observed an individual, later identified as James David Moats (the “Defendant“), sitting in the driver‘s seat of a pick-up truck in the parking lot of a BI-LO Grocery. Citizens National Bank, located next door to the grocery, was closed at the time, but a BP gas station across the parking lot was open. “No loitering” signs had been posted at the location, and, previously, a business owner had asked the police to patrol the area more frequently after business hours because of suspected illegal drug activity. As Officer Bige drove by in her patrol car, she noticed that the headlights of the truck were turned on but the engine was not engaged. Officer Bige, who described what she had seen as “out of the ordinary,” continued on patrol; however, when she returned to the parking lot some five minutes later and the truck was in the same position, she parked her patrol car behind the truck, activated her blue lights, and called in the license plate number.
As Officer Bige walked toward the truck, she noticed that the window on the driver‘s side was rolled down. She asked the Defendant “if he was okay,” and he replied, “I‘m fine.” At that point, Officer Bige saw an open beer can in a cup holder on the dash of the truck and keys in the ignition. When she asked why he was parked there, the Defendant replied that he was “just there” and admitted that he had been drinking “a few beers.” According to the officer, the Defendant appeared to be “disoriented, very slow to speak, very sleepy acting,” and he was unable to produce either identification or registration for the truck. When Officer Bige‘s sergeant arrived at the scene, the Defendant struggled to get out of his vehicle and then performed poorly on three field sobriety tests. After being arrested for driving under the influence, the Defendant consented to a test for blood alcohol content, which registered 0.19%.
During cross-examination at the suppression hearing, Officer Bige stated that the Defendant was the only person in the parking lot at the time of his arrest. She conceded that she did not see him drive the truck or otherwise do anything illegal before she approached the vehicle. The officer agreed that the Defendant did not appear to be in need of medical assistance and explained that she stopped to investigate only because it appeared “strange that a car would be ... in a parking lot at almost ... 2 a.m. with the lights on.” She acknowledged that when she turned on the blue lights, it was “fair to say that [the Defendant] was not free to leave.”
At the conclusion of Officer Bige‘s testimony, the trial court denied the Defendant‘s motion to suppress, holding that under these circumstances a police officer, in the role of a community caretaker, is permitted to approach a parked vehicle and to ask for the driver‘s identification and proof of vehicle registration, and, upon observing possible criminal activity, to detain, further investigate, and ultimately make an arrest.
B. Trial
Only Officer Bige and the Defendant testified at trial. The officer repeated the testimony that she had provided at the hearing on the motion to suppress. She stated that she observed while her ser-
The Defendant presented a convoluted explanation designed to show that even though he had been drinking excessively, he had not driven his truck to the parking lot. He testified that several hours before his arrest, Bill Hyatt, with whom he had worked years earlier, and a second man, whom he could not identify, stopped by his residence for a visit. He claimed that the unidentified man left after a brief period of time. The Defendant related that he then drove Hyatt to the Log Cabin Bar for drinks and that, later, the unidentified man met them at the bar but did not drink. According to the Defendant, when the three men left the bar, Hyatt drove the pick-up truck, the Defendant rode in the passenger seat, and the unidentified man followed in his separate vehicle. The Defendant stated that when they arrived at the BI-LO parking lot, the other two men left in the unidentified man‘s vehicle. He explained that he moved into the driver‘s seat because it was a cold night, cool temperatures exacerbated his pain from a prior back injury, and the truck only had heat on the driver‘s side. The Defendant contended that when Officer Bige drove by the first time, his truck‘s engine was running (presumably to heat the interior), but that he had turned the engine off by the time of her return. While asserting that he was not aware of the presence of the beer in his truck, the Defendant admitted that he was intoxicated. He also acknowledged that when questioned at the scene, he did not inform Officer Bige about Hyatt or the unidentified man.
At the conclusion of the proof, the jury found the Defendant guilty of driving under the influence, his fourth offense, and thus a Class E felony. The trial court imposed a Range I sentence of two years.
C. Appeal
On the appeal as of right, the Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the Defendant had been seized by Officer Bige at the time the blue lights were activated, reversed the conviction, and dismissed the charge, concluding that at the time of the seizure, the officer lacked a reasonable suspicion based upon specific and articulable facts that the Defendant had either committed a criminal offense or was about to do so. Citing State v. Williams, 185 S.W.3d 311 (Tenn. 2006), the Court of Criminal Appeals held that these circumstances did not fall within the officer‘s community caretaking function because “the [D]efendant‘s encounter with the officer was not voluntary, but rather occurred under a show of authority—the activation of the blue emergency lights—from which a reasonable person would not have felt free to leave.” State v. Moats, No. E2010-02013-CCA-R3-CD, 2011 WL 5374129, at *4 (Tenn. Crim. App. Nov. 8, 2011) (quoting Williams, 185 S.W.3d at 317).
This Court granted the State‘s application for permission to appeal to consider whether the actions of the arresting officer
II. Standard of Review
The standard of review applicable to suppression issues is well established. When the trial court makes findings of fact after a suppression hearing, its conclusions are binding upon this Court unless the evidence in the record preponderates otherwise. State v. Odom, 928 S.W.2d 18, 23 (Tenn. 1996). As a general rule, “[q]uestions of credibility of the witnesses, the weight and value of the evidence, and resolution of conflicts in the evidence are matters entrusted to the trial judge as the trier of fact.” Id. When the findings of fact are based entirely on evidence that does not involve issues of witness credibility, an appellate court conducts a de novo review. State v. Binette, 33 S.W.3d 215, 217 (Tenn. 2000). Review of a trial court‘s application of law to the facts is de novo with no presumption of correctness. State v. Walton, 41 S.W.3d 75, 81 (Tenn. 2001) (citing State v. Crutcher, 989 S.W.2d 295, 299 (Tenn. 1999)).
III. Analysis
Both the federal and state constitutions provide protections from unreasonable searches and seizures; the general rule is that a warrantless search or seizure is presumed unreasonable and any evidence discovered by virtue thereof is subject to suppression. See
These constitutional protections are designed to “safeguard the privacy and security of individuals against arbitrary invasions of government officials.” State v. Randolph, 74 S.W.3d 330, 334 (Tenn. 2002) (quoting Camara v. Mun. Ct., 387 U.S. 523, 528 (1967)); see also State v. Keith, 978 S.W.2d 861, 865 (Tenn. 1998). “The touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness.” Florida v. Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248, 250 (1991) (citing Katz, 389 U.S. at 360); see also Skinner v. Ry. Labor Execs.’ Ass‘n, 489 U.S. 602, 619 (1989); State v. Scarborough, 201 S.W.3d 607, 616 (Tenn. 2006). “While arrests and investigatory stops are seizures implicating consti-
Consistent with these principles, this Court has long recognized three categories of police interactions with private citizens: (1) a full-scale arrest, which requires probable cause, see Dunaway v. New York, 442 U.S. 200, 209-10 (1979); State v. Echols, 382 S.W.3d 266, 277 (Tenn. 2012); (2) a brief investigatory detention, requiring reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, see Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 25-26 (1968); State v. Williamson, 368 S.W.3d 468, 474 (Tenn. 2012); and (3) a brief police-citizen encounter, requiring no objective justification, see United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 553 (1980); State v. Ingram, 331 S.W.3d 746, 756 (Tenn. 2011). See United States v. Berry, 670 F.2d 583, 591 (5th Cir. 1982) (recognizing a three-tier analysis for warrantless encounters with police); Nicholson, 188 S.W.3d at 656; State v. Daniel, 12 S.W.3d 420, 424 (Tenn. 2000). “Of the three categories, only the first two rise to the level of a ‘seizure’ for constitutional analysis purposes.” State v. Day, 263 S.W.3d 891, 901 (Tenn. 2008).
A. Investigatory Stop
A full-scale arrest supported by probable cause does not, of course, require a warrant. See State v. Hanning, 296 S.W.3d 44, 48 (Tenn. 2009) (citing Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 598 (1975)). Probable cause for an arrest without a warrant exists if, at the time of the arrest, the facts and circumstances within the knowledge of the officers, and of which they had reasonably trustworthy information, are “sufficient to warrant a prudent [person] in believing that the [defendant] had committed or was committing an offense.” Bridges, 963 S.W.2d at 491 (second alteration in original) (quoting Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 91 (1964)); see also State v. Richards, 286 S.W.3d 873, 879 (Tenn. 2009). In this instance, the State makes no claim that Officer Bige had probable cause to arrest the Defendant; rather, the State asserts that the circumstances justified an investigatory stop, which does not require a warrant. See Terry, 392 U.S. at 20, 27.
When an officer has reasonable suspicion, supported by specific and articulable facts, to believe that a criminal offense has been or is about to be committed, a brief investigatory detention is permitted. Id. at 21; State v. Simpson, 968 S.W.2d 776, 780 (Tenn. 1998). Reasonable suspicion must be supported by more than the officer‘s “inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or ‘hunch,‘” Terry, 392 U.S. at 27; however, “reasonable suspicion can be established with information that is different in quantity or content than that required to establish probable cause ... [and] can arise from information that is less reliable than that required to show probable cause.” State v. Pulley, 863 S.W.2d 29, 32 (Tenn. 1993) (quoting Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 330 (1990)); see also Day, 263 S.W.3d at 903.
Trial courts must examine the totality of the circumstances when evaluating whether an officer has established the req-
Seventeen years ago, our Court of Criminal Appeals, relying on a ruling of the United States Supreme Court, addressed whether a vehicle in a high crime area after midnight served as a basis for an investigatory stop, and concluded that more was required to meet constitutional standards:
In the instant case, the police officer‘s sole justification for stopping the appellant was the appellant‘s presence in a “high crime area” at 2:00 a.m. At least one court has observed that “an area‘s propensity toward criminal activity is something that an officer may consider.... The lateness of the hour is another fact that may raise the level of suspicion.” United States v. Lender, 985 F.2d 151, 154 (4th Cir. 1993). However, the same court acknowledged and the Supreme Court has held that an individual‘s presence in a high crime area, standing alone, is not a basis for concluding that the individual himself is engaged in criminal conduct. Id. [; see also Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 52 (1979)]. We conclude, moreover, that the lateness of the hour, without more, does not elevate the facts of this case to the level of reasonable suspicion.
State v. Lawson, 929 S.W.2d 406, 408 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1996).
More recently, our Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals considered similar circumstances and found no basis for an investigatory stop:
The first two facts—presence in a high-crime location and the lateness of the hour—may not, without more, give rise to reasonable suspicion, but they may be considered in the totality of the circumstances. Nonetheless, these are context-based factors that would have pertained to anyone in the [area] at that time and should not be given undue weight. This caveat is especially appropriate in this case, because while [the officer] testified that the area was known for drug trafficking specifically, he observed no conduct from [the defendant] consistent with drug activity.
United States v. Johnson, 620 F.3d 685, 692-93 (6th Cir. 2010) (first alteration in original) (emphasis added) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).
Finally, in United States v. See, 574 F.3d 309 (6th Cir. 2009), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals considered facts almost identical to those in the case before us. In See, a patrol officer observed three men sitting in a parked car at a public housing complex at 4:30 a.m. Id. at 311. The officer parked his police car so as to prevent the driver, See, from driving away. Upon investigation, the officer found a firearm under the driver‘s seat and made an arrest. Id. The district court upheld the investigatory stop and subsequent arrest, observing that the area had a reputation for illegal activities, that the officer had been instructed to give special attention to loiterers, and that See was in a dimly lit area of
The conviction was reversed on appeal. The Sixth Circuit first held that when the officer blocked See‘s vehicle with a marked patrol car, a seizure had taken place because “a reasonable person in See‘s position would not have felt free to leave.” Id. at 313; see also United States v. Foster, 376 F.3d 577, 584 (6th Cir. 2004) (“A consensual encounter can ripen into a seizure if ‘in light of all of the circumstances, [] a reasonable person [would] have believed that he or she was not free to walk away.‘” (quoting United States v. Grant, 920 F.2d 376, 382 (6th Cir. 1990) (internal quotation marks omitted))). Moreover, the court held that the early hour of the morning, the high crime area, and the request that the officer be on the lookout for loiterers, among the other factors present, did not qualify as reasonable suspicion, explaining that the officer was not responding to a complaint, did not suspect the men of a specific crime, did not observe the men acting suspiciously, and did not cause them to flee upon seeing his police car. See See, 574 F.3d at 314. In a concurring opinion, a circuit judge explained how what had begun as a consensual encounter transformed into an illegal investigatory stop by virtue of a premature seizure:
[B]ecause Officer Williams observed the men only for a moment before blocking their exit and had not seen them do anything other than sitting in See‘s vehicle, I cannot say that there were articulable facts that criminal activity may be afoot, or that the officer had anything more than an ill-defined hunch[]. Officer Williams had every right to investigate further, but he should have simply parked his patrol car alongside See‘s vehicle to carry out the investigation in a consensual manner. Instead, he parked his patrol car in such a way so as to block in See‘s vehicle, thus transforming the encounter into a Terry stop.
Id. at 315 (Gilman, J., concurring) (second alteration in original) (emphasis added) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).
In this case, the Court of Criminal Appeals considered the totality of the circumstances, reviewed Officer Bige‘s testimony and observations, and concluded that there existed no reasonable suspicion of illegal activity at the time of the stop. While the State argues otherwise, we fully concur that Officer Bige was unable to offer specific and articulable facts sufficient to qualify as reasonable suspicion that the Defendant had committed or was about to commit a criminal offense. She conceded that she did not see the Defendant drive the truck, engage in a drug transaction, or otherwise do anything illegal before activating her blue lights and approaching the truck. The early morning hour and a general request for officers to be on the lookout for suspected illegal drug activity do not, without more, rise to the level of reasonable suspicion. As acknowledged by the Court of Criminal Appeals, an “inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or hunch” does not meet the standard required for an investigatory stop. Moats, 2011 WL 5374129, at *4 (quoting Terry, 392 U.S. at 27).
B. Community Caretaking
Our primary concern in this instance is whether the actions of Officer Bige qualified as a valid exercise of the community caretaking function, which is defined within the third tier of police-citizen encounters. Unlike full-scale arrests and investigatory detentions, third-tier encounters are consensual and do not require probable cause or reasonable suspicion.
Ten years later, the Supreme Court confirmed that some police-citizen encounters were consensual and, in consequence, did not fall within the protections of the Fourth Amendment:
[L]aw enforcement officers do not violate the Fourth Amendment by merely approaching an individual on the street or in another public place, by asking him if he is willing to answer some questions, by putting questions to him if the person is willing to listen, or by offering in evidence in a criminal prosecution his voluntary answers to such questions. Nor would the fact that the officer identifies himself as a police officer, without more, convert the encounter into a seizure requiring some level of objective justification. The person approached, however, need not answer any question put to him; indeed, he may decline to listen to the questions at all and may go on his way. He may not be detained even momentarily without reasonable, objective grounds for doing so; and his refusal to listen or answer does not, without more, furnish those grounds. If there is no detention—no seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment—then no constitutional rights have been infringed.
Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 497–98 (1983) (plurality opinion) (emphasis added) (citations omitted); see also United States v. Drayton, 536 U.S. 194, 201-02 (2002) (“Even when law enforcement officers have no basis for suspecting a particular individual, they may pose questions, ask for identification, and request consent to search [,] provided they do not induce cooperation by coercive means.“).
Based in great measure upon these rulings, our courts have consistently recognized that police officers may approach an individual in a public place, whether walking or in a parked car, and ask questions without implicating constitutional protections. See Daniel, 12 S.W.3d at 426; Pulley, 863 S.W.2d at 30; State v. Gonzalez, 52 S.W.3d 90, 95 (Tenn. Crim. App. 2000); State v. Butler, 795 S.W.2d 680, 685 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1990); see also 4
While the facts in Hawkins are similar to those in the case before us, the opinion in Hawkins indicates that although the officer pulled his patrol car behind the awkwardly parked vehicle, he did not activate his blue lights or otherwise exhibit any show of authority. The more difficult question with which we are now faced is whether Officer Bige acted within her role as a community caretaker, like the officer in Hawkins, or if she exceeded the scope of the community caretaking function by activating her blue lights under the circumstances.
As stated, the community caretaking function exists within the third tier of consensual police-citizen encounters that do not require probable cause or reasonable suspicion, whereas the requisite level of probable cause or reasonable suspicion must be satisfied when a seizure has taken place. See, e.g., Randolph, 74 S.W.3d at 338. The definition of a seizure in this state, as developed by a series of decisions by this Court, varies slightly from the federal definition. In California v. Hodari D., 499 U.S. 621, 626 (1991), the United States Supreme Court determined that a seizure occurs only when an officer uses physical force to detain or when an individual submits to the officer‘s show of authority. In contrast, this Court has traditionally interpreted
Consistent with Mendenhall and the constitutional standards developed in our state, this Court has adopted a totality of the circumstances test for determining whether a seizure has occurred. Daniel, 12 S.W.3d at 425.
Some of the factors which are relevant and should be considered by courts when applying this totality of the circumstances test include the time, place and purpose of the encounter; the words used by the officer; the officer‘s tone of voice and general demeanor; the officer‘s statements to others who were present during the encounter; the threatening presence of several officers; the display of a weapon by an officer; and the physical touching of the person of the citizen. Id. at 425-26. Recognizing that “[t]he test is necessarily imprecise,” Michigan v. Chesternut, 486 U.S. 567, 573 (1988), we further identified several examples of when a po-
[A]n officer: (1) pursues an individual who has attempted to terminate the contact by departing; (2) continues to interrogate a person who has clearly expressed a desire not to cooperate; (3) renews interrogation of a person who has earlier responded fully to police inquiries; (4) verbally orders a citizen to stop and answer questions; (5) retains a citizen‘s identification or other property; (6) physically restrains a citizen or blocks the citizen‘s path; (7) displays a weapon during the encounter.
Daniel, 12 S.W.3d at 426 (citing 4
In the same year this Court decided Daniel, the Court of Criminal Appeals, in Gonzalez, considered whether a seizure had occurred, thereby implicating constitutional protections, when an officer activated the blue lights on his patrol car after coming upon a stopped vehicle. 52 S.W.3d at 97. The police learned that Gonzalez, who was believed to be a passenger in a blue Ford Taurus, may have been involved in a cocaine transaction. Id. at 93. During a routine patrol, an officer observed the Taurus driving in the opposite direction, made a U-turn, and followed the Taurus onto a dead-end street. Id. When the Taurus stopped at the end of the street, the driver of the Taurus exited the vehicle and walked toward the officer‘s patrol car. Id. As the driver approached, the officer ordered him back into the Taurus and activated his blue lights. Id. The officer then approached the Taurus, smelled marijuana, and found a small amount of cocaine and some drug paraphernalia inside the vehicle. Id. He also discovered that Gonzalez was in fact a passenger in the vehicle and that there was a bag of cocaine underneath his seat. Id. The Court of Criminal Appeals held that a seizure had occurred when the officer activated his blue lights and ordered the driver back into his vehicle, indicating “a show of authority such that a reasonable person in the position of either [Gonzalez] or [the driver] would not have felt free to leave.” Id. at 97.
The court further observed as follows:
In the context of stopping a moving vehicle, as opposed to a seizure of a parked vehicle, our supreme court has maintained that “[w]hen an officer turns on his blue lights, he or she has clearly initiated a stop.” We see little difference, from the perspective of the occupants in the vehicle, in turning on the blue lights behind a moving vehicle and turning on the blue lights behind a parked vehicle. The lights still convey the message that the occupants are not free to leave.
Id. (emphasis added) (citation omitted). The Court of Criminal Appeals, while holding that Gonzalez had been the subject of a seizure, thereby implicating constitutional protections, specifically addressed the burden placed upon police officers under the same or similar circumstances:
[W]e are cognizant of the difficult decisions police officers face daily in the exercise of their duties. We realize that when officers desire to question citizens without reasonable suspicion to do so, they may also want to activate their emergency equipment for their own safety so that they will be visible to others.... Under our decision, police officers who wish to question individuals may be faced with the unsettling choice of whether to activate their emergency equipment for their own safety and run the risk of later suppression of any evidence obtained as a result of their questioning or whether to forego questioning the individuals altogether.
Such a dilemma does not, however, alter our result.... [T]he test for determining whether a seizure occurs examines the circumstances from the standpoint of the citizen, not the police officer. If a reasonable person would not feel free to leave due to an officer‘s show of authority, that constitutes a seizure, regardless of why the officer made a show of authority.
Id. at 97-98 (emphasis added) (citation omitted).
Six years after the Court of Criminal Appeals decided Gonzalez, this Court addressed “whether [the single act of] activating blue lights constitutes a seizure when a vehicle is already stopped.” Williams, 185 S.W.3d at 316. Citing Gonzalez and considering cases in other states with similar facts but with conflicting results, this Court concluded “that [Williams‘] encounter with the officer was not voluntary, but rather occurred under a show of authority—the activation of the blue emergency lights—from which a reasonable person would not have felt free to leave.” Id. at 317. While recognizing that “the officer may have subjectively intended to activate his blue lights solely for his safety and the safety of others on the road,” this Court described “the objective belief of a reasonable person in the position of the defendant, not that of the officer,” as the litmus test for a seizure. Id. at 318.
After confirming the holding in Gonzalez that “a police officer initiates a seizure by turning on his blue lights behind a parked vehicle because the lights convey the message that the occupants are not free to leave,” Williams, 185 S.W.3d at 316 (citing Gonzalez, 52 S.W.3d at 97-98), this Court nevertheless made the following observation:
Not all use of the emergency blue lights on a patrol car will constitute a show of authority resulting in the seizure of a person.... [W]hen officers act in their community caretaking function, they may want to activate their emergency equipment for their own safety and the safety of other motorists.
Id. at 318 (emphasis added). Despite these qualifying statements, this Court applied the “litmus test” of “the objective belief of a reasonable person in the position of the defendant, not that of the officer,” to find that Williams had been seized by the officer‘s use of the blue lights. Id. Specifically, this Court pointed to the fact that “[t]here was no evidence of an accident or other peril. In fact, [Williams‘] vehicle was the only vehicle in the area, so the use of the blue lights was directed solely at [him].” Id. (emphasis added). Moreover, there was nothing in that case “to indicate that the officer was concerned that [Williams] was in need of assistance.” Id. In consequence, the Court rejected the possibility that the officer was acting within his community caretaking role. Id.
Although this Court acknowledged the community caretaking function, the ruling in Williams, especially in light of the language used by the Court of Criminal Appeals in Gonzalez, has been largely interpreted to mean that the activation of blue lights constitutes a seizure and, as a practical matter, negates the community caretaking function. See, e.g., Williamson, 368 S.W.3d at 476; Hanning, 296 S.W.3d at 49; State v. Ownby, No. E2011-00543-CCA-R3-CD, 2012 WL 1570987, at *6 (Tenn. Crim. App. May 3, 2012). While today we question our application of the law to the facts in Williams, we reaffirm the legal principles stated therein. In consequence, our objective in this instance is to provide some guidance as to when officers may activate their emergency equipment for “their own safety and the safety of other motorists,” Williams, 185 S.W.3d at 318,
In State v. Jensen, No. E2002-00712-CCR-R3-CD, 2002 WL 31528549 (Tenn. Crim. App. Nov. 15, 2002), the Court of Criminal Appeals discussed the permissible use of emergency equipment in the exercise of a community caretaking function. An officer and an ambulance driver met at a road intersection and parked their respective vehicles on opposite sides of the road to have a conversation. Id. at *1. The red lights of the ambulance were flashing at the time but the blue lights of the police car were not. Id. Jensen drove into the intersection behind the police car and the ambulance, where his car stalled. Id. When Jensen could not restart his vehicle, the officer activated his blue lights, stepped out of his patrol car, approached Jensen, and asked if he was having car trouble. Id. He answered, “Yeah, I cannot get my vehicle started.” Id. When the officer smelled alcohol and saw that Jensen‘s face was flushed, he asked him to step out of the vehicle and subsequently made an arrest. Id. While acknowledging that the “activation of blue lights ordinarily triggers a ‘stop’ or ‘seizure,‘” the Court of Criminal Appeals observed that “it is not unusual for a police officer to activate the blue lights on his or her patrol car for safety purposes when on the side of a road or at an accident site.” Id. at *2.4
The Court of Criminal Appeals also approved the use of an officer‘s blue lights in the exercise of a community caretaking function in State v. Vandergriff, No. E2010-02560-CCA-R3-CD, 2012 WL 2445049, at *4 (Tenn. Crim. App. June 28, 2012). At approximately 9:00 p.m., a police officer “was forced to ‘slam on his brakes’ to avoid hitting [an occupied] truck, which was parked in a ‘no pass’ zone on [a] two-lane highway.” Id. at *1. Observing moderate traffic on the highway, the officer activated his blue lights so that other motorists would be aware of the presence of his patrol car and of the truck. Id. When the driver stepped out of his truck, without being ordered to do so by the officer, he was unsteady on his feet. Id. The officer administered field sobriety tests, and the driver was arrested and later convicted for driving under the influence. Id. at *1-2. Although the driver argued that he had been seized without reasonable suspicion, id. at *1, the Court of Criminal Appeals distinguished Williams and held that the officer had acted within his community caretaking role because
he activated his blue lights to alert other motorists to prevent them for slamming into his vehicle, as he had almost slammed into the defendant‘s parked truck. The activation was safety based and done out of concern for the defen-
dant, himself, and other motorists on the roadway.... It was not done as a show of authority directed at the defendant.
Id. at *4 (emphasis added); see also Dombrowski, 413 U.S. at 441 (defining the community caretaking function in the context of “the extensive regulation of motor vehicles and traffic” and “the frequency with which a vehicle can become disabled or involved in an accident on public highways“).5
In this instance, the Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the State‘s argument that Officer Bige was acting within her community caretaking role because “there was no indication that the [D]efendant needed assistance nor was there any other evidence that she needed to activate the lights for safety reasons.” Moats, 2011 WL 5374129, at *4. Unlike Vandergriff, where the officer nearly slammed into the back of a truck that was stopped in the middle of a highway, Officer Bige, who had been made aware of possible illegal drug activity in the area, parked her patrol car immediately behind the Defendant‘s truck, which was the only vehicle in the otherwise empty parking lot. There was no objective indication that Officer Bige needed to activate the blue lights to protect either the Defendant or other motorists from possible harm.6 Finally, without any likelihood of an accident or peril, the activation of Officer Bige‘s blue lights was directed solely at the Defendant. Because no other cars were in the parking lot and the officer parked directly behind the Defendant, the blue lights could hardly be interpreted as for any purpose other than a notice to the Defendant. Under the totality of these circumstances, a reasonable person would not have felt free to leave. See Williams, 185 S.W.3d at 318. In consequence, the use of blue lights qualified as a seizure of the Defendant.
Our extensive research suggests that community caretaking can generally be classified into several categories, all of which are separate and distinct from traditional criminal investigation or detection.7 The primary form of community
[b]ecause of the extensive regulation of motor vehicles and traffic, and also because of the frequency with which a vehicle can become disabled or involved in an accident on public highways, the extent of police-citizen contact involving automobiles will be substantially greater than police-citizen contact in a home or office.
Id. at 441. Like the community caretaking standards that have developed in our state, this type of community caretaking described by the Supreme Court “supports relatively minor or regular interactions with the police: approaching parked cars when the driver appears incapacitated or sick or the car is functioning improperly and approaching pedestrians who appear lost, in danger, or ill.” Naumann, 26 Am. J.Crim. L. at 339 (footnote omitted). The core of any community caretaking function is when the police act to protect or assist the public in some manner outside of “the crime-control paradigm.”8 Dimino, 66 Wash. & Lee L.Rev. at 1490.
We decline to address the myriad circumstances under which the community caretaking function might apply in our state. It is sufficient at this time to conclude that the activation of blue lights on a police vehicle will not always qualify as a seizure, and that the blue lights may be used for community caretaking purposes unrelated to the investigation or detection of criminal activity, when not used as a show of authority directed at a particular person.
Although the activation of blue lights on a police vehicle ordinarily triggers a stop or seizure, thereby implicating constitutional protections, the totality of the circumstances must be considered to determine whether the police officer was acting within a community caretaking role, which is a concept separate and distinct from the investigation of possible criminal activity. As a general rule, if the activation of blue lights is not used as a show of authority directed at a particular person, the officer is acting within the community caretaking function and need not support his or her actions with reasonable suspicion or probable cause. Because the circumstances here demonstrate that the officer was not acting within a community caretaking role and did not have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to seize the Defendant, the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals is affirmed. The conviction is reversed and the cause dismissed. Costs are adjudged against the State.
CORNELIA A. CLARK, J., and WILLIAM C. KOCH, JR., J., dissenting.
We respectfully dissent. We would reverse the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals and reinstate the judgment of the trial court, which denied the defendant‘s motion to suppress because Officer Bige initially “approached [Mr. Moats‘s] vehicle in her community caretaking function.” We are convinced that prior Tennessee decisions have erroneously limited the community caretaking doctrine to consensual police-citizen encounters. We believe the Court should acknowledge this error, overrule the errant precedents, and recognize that the community caretaking doctrine functions as an exception to the Fourth Amendment‘s warrant and probable cause requirements. We would then conclude that, in this case, the seizure of Mr. Moats was justified under the community caretaking exception. We would not reach the additional question of whether the seizure was supported by reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
We additionally disagree with the majority‘s suggestion, in a footnote, that prior Tennessee decisions limiting the community caretaking doctrine to consensual police-citizen encounters derived that rule from
I. Analysis
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unrea-sonable searches and seizures,” and provides that “no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause....” 1 Likewise,
A warrantless search or seizure is presumed unreasonable. Kentucky v. King, — U.S. —, —, 131 S.Ct. 1849, 1856, 179 L.Ed.2d 865 (2011); State v. Day, 263 S.W.3d 891, 901 (Tenn. 2008); State v. Daniel, 12 S.W.3d 420, 424 (Tenn. 2000). This presumption may be overcome, however, if the State demonstrates that the search or seizure was conducted pursuant to one of the exceptions to the warrant requirement. King, 131 S.Ct. at 1856 (“[T]he warrant requirement is subject to certain reasonable exceptions.“); Day, 263 S.W.3d at 901 & n. 9 (enumerating exceptions); State v. Nicholson, 188 S.W.3d 649, 656 (Tenn. 2006); State v. Yeargan, 958 S.W.2d 626, 629 (Tenn. 1997). Of course,
In this appeal, the State concedes that Officer Bige‘s interaction with Mr. Moats amounted to a warrantless seizure. The State has argued, however, that the seizure of Mr. Moats resulted from the officer‘s reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and was therefore permissible under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 25-26 (1968). Alternatively, the State argues that the seizure was justified by the community caretaking doctrine. The majority concludes that the seizure was not supported by reasonable suspicion and is therefore not a valid Terry stop. The majority also concludes that the community caretaking doctrine applies only to consensual police-citizen encounters, is not an exception to the warrant requirement, and thus can not justify the warrantless seizure in this case.
We agree with the majority that prior Tennessee decisions have limited the community caretaking doctrine to “third tier” consensual police-citizen encounters. This limitation originated with State v. Hawkins, 969 S.W.2d 936, 939 (Tenn. Crim. App.
In Hawkins, the Court of Criminal Appeals supported its determination that the community caretaking doctrine applies only in the context of “third tier” consensual citizen-police encounters with a citation to United States v. Berry, 670 F.2d 583, 591 (5th Cir. 1982). Hawkins, 969 S.W.2d at 939. In Williams, this Court took the same position and cited Hawkins and Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433 (1973), as the supporting authorities. Williams, 185 S.W.3d at 315. Finally, Day repeated this limitation, citing only Williams as support and noting that Williams had cited Hawkins and Cady. Day, 263 S.W.3d at 901 n. 10.
These federal decisions, Berry and Cady, do not support limiting the community caretaking doctrine to third-tier consensual encounters. Berry contains no language supporting such a limitation. In fact, the word “community” does not even appear in Berry. Cady actually refutes the idea that the community caretaking doctrine is limited to consensual police-citizen encounters because the Court in Cady applied the doctrine to uphold a warrantless search in a circumstance far removed from any consensual citizen-police encounter.
The defendant in Cady was a Chicago police officer who wrecked his car in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin officers who arrived on the scene believed, erroneously, that Chicago police officers were required to carry their service revolvers at all times. Thus, they searched the defendant, his glove box, and the front-seat area of his automobile. The officers found no revolver. After the vehicle had been towed, a Wisconsin officer searched the vehicle‘s interior and trunk to avoid “the possibility that a revolver would fall into untrained or perhaps malicious hands.” Cady, 413 U.S. at 443. Inside the trunk the officer discovered several bloodstained objects, and this discovery prompted a new investigation that culminated in murder charges against the defendant.
The defendant moved to suppress the evidence discovered during the warrantless search. The United States Supreme Court upheld the search as reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. “Local police officers,” the Court said, “frequently investigate vehicle accidents in which there is no claim of criminal liability and engage in what, for want of a better term, may be described as community caretaking functions, totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute.” Cady, 413 U.S. at 441. The search was reasonable, and therefore valid, because it was undertaken to protect the safety of the general public. Cady, 413 U.S. at 447. The Court in Cady nowhere limited the community caretaking doctrine to consensual police-citizen encounters. On the contrary, the Court applied the exception to uphold a warrantless search of the defendant‘s vehicle.
Only four states, Illinois, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Tennessee, have ever confined the community caretaking doctrine to consensual police-citizen encounters. See People v. Luedemann, 222 Ill.2d 530, 306 Ill.Dec. 94, 857 N.E.2d 187, 197 n. 4 (2006). The supreme courts of two of these states, Illinois and New Mexico, have explicitly abandoned this view and abrogated prior decisions to the contrary. See Luedemann, 857 N.E.2d at 198-99 (“[T]he ‘community caretaking’ doctrine is analytically distinct from consensual encounters and is invoked to vali-
Although the United States Supreme Court has not addressed the community caretaking doctrine in the thirty years since Cady, subsequent federal and state decisions (other than those of Illinois, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Tennessee) consistently describe the doctrine as an exception to the Fourth Amendment‘s restrictions on warrantless searches and seizures. See, e.g., Lockhart-Bembery v. Sauro, 498 F.3d 69, 75 (1st Cir. 2007) (observing that the question is not “whether there was a seizure” because, “under the community caretaking doctrine, police action can be constitutional notwithstanding the fact that it constitutes a seizure.“); United States v. Coccia, 446 F.3d 233, 237-38 (1st Cir. 2006) (“Generally, a law enforcement officer may only seize property pursuant to a warrant based on probable cause describing the place to be searched and the property to be seized. There are, however, exceptions to this requirement, including the community caretaking exception.” (internal footnote and citations omitted)); Ray v. Township of Warren, 626 F.3d 170, 174-77 (3rd Cir. 2010) (describing the community caretaking doctrine as an exception to the warrant requirement but refusing to apply it to justify warrantless searches of homes); United States v. Johnson, 410 F.3d 137, 144-45 (4th Cir. 2005) (applying the “community caretaking exception” to uphold a warrantless search of a vehicle‘s glove compartment); United States v. Cervantes, 703 F.3d 1135, 1140 (9th Cir. 2012) (considering “whether the impoundment and subsequent inventory search of Cervantes‘s vehicle were justified by the community caretaking exception to the Fourth Amendment‘s warrant requirement“); United States v. Garner, 416 F.3d 1208, 1213 (10th Cir. 2005) (discussing the community caretaking exception to the warrant requirement); Williams v. State, 962 A.2d 210, 216 (Del. 2008) (recognizing the “‘community caretaker’ or ‘public safety’ doctrine” as an “exception” to the warrant requirement); Luedemann, 857 N.E.2d at 198-99 (“[T]he ‘community caretaking’ doctrine is analytically distinct from consensual encounters and is invoked to validate a search or seizure as reasonable under the fourth amendment.“); State v. Crawford, 659 N.W.2d 537, 543 (Iowa 2003) (“Implicit in any community caretaking case is the fact that there has been a seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Otherwise there would be no need to apply a community caretaking exception.“); In Re J.M.E., 38 Kan.App.2d 229, 162 P.3d 835, 839 (2007) (describing the community caretaking doctrine as an “exception” to the Fourth Amendment); Poe v. Commonwealth, 169 S.W.3d 54, 56-59 (Ky. Ct. App. 2005) (recognizing the community caretaking exception but holding it inapplicable to justify the police action at issue); Wilson v. State, 409 Md. 415, 975 A.2d 877, 891 (2009) (recognizing that the community caretaking function as an exception and enunciating a test for its application); People v. Slaughter, 489 Mich. 302, 803 N.W.2d 171, 180 (2011) (“We conclude that the community caretaking exception to the warrant requirement applies when a firefighter, responding to an emergency call involving a threat to life or property, reasonably enters a private resi-
The weight of these authorities, coupled with Cady itself, convinces us that this Court erred in Williams by embracing the premise of Hawkins that the community caretaking doctrine is limited to consensual police-citizen encounters. We would acknowledge this error, disavow this inaccurate statement of law, and follow the overwhelming majority of other jurisdictions that recognize the community caretaking doctrine as an exception to the Fourth Amendment‘s warrant and probable cause requirements.
Of course, this Court has the authority to interpret the Tennessee Constitution in a way that provides more protection to Tennessee‘s citizens than the United States Constitution. State v. Watkins, 362 S.W.3d 530, 554-55 (Tenn. 2012). Twice before we have exercised this authority and held that article I, section 7 imposes stricter standards than the Fourth Amendment in certain circumstances. See State v. Jacumin, 778 S.W.2d 430, 435-36 (Tenn. 1989) (adopting a different standard for evaluating the sufficiency of an affidavit submitted in support of a request for a search warrant); State v. Lakin, 588 S.W.2d 544, 549 (Tenn. 1979) (acknowledging a more restrictive application of the open fields doctrine under the Tennessee Constitution).
We are puzzled, however, by the majority‘s suggestion that Williams provides another example of this Court interpreting article I, section 7 more strictly than the Fourth Amendment. As we previously noted, Hawkins and Williams cited only federal authority for the proposition that the community caretaking doctrine is limited to consensual police-citizen encounters. Neither Hawkins nor Williams explicitly based the limitation on article I, section 7. To the contrary, Williams described article I, section 7 as “identical in intent and purpose to the Fourth Amendment.” Williams, 185 S.W.3d at 315 (emphasis added). Williams is also devoid of the sort of analysis we typically apply when we explore whether a provision of the Tennessee Constitution requires an interpretation that diverges from the federal courts’ interpretation of a corresponding provision of the United States Constitution. See, e.g., Watkins, 362 S.W.3d at 554-56; Vineyard, 958 S.W.2d at 733-34. Williams nowhere suggests that its holding was based on the Tennessee Constitution or that article I, section 7 should be construed more narrowly than the Fourth Amendment in the context of the community caretaking doctrine.
We would acknowledge that Hawkins, Williams, and Day erred by limiting Cady‘s community caretaking doctrine to consensual police-citizen encounters. We would disavow that limitation, recognize the community caretaking doctrine as an exception to the Fourth Amendment‘s warrant and probable cause requirements, and determine whether the exception applies in this case.
As with all Fourth Amendment questions, the touchstone of the analysis is reasonableness. See Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398, 403 (2006). Reasonableness is judged by an objective standard. Id. at 404-05. Thus, application of the community caretaking exception turns on whether the challenged police action is objectively reasonable considering all of the surrounding circumstances. See, e.g., Lockhart-Bembery, 498 F.3d at 75 (“The ultimate inquiry is whether, under the circumstances, the officer acted ‘within the realm of reason.’ Reasonableness does not depend on any particular factor; the court must take into account the various facts of the case at hand.” (internal citations omitted)); State v. Wixom, 130 Idaho 752, 947 P.2d 1000, 1002 (1997) (“In analyzing community caretaking function cases, Idaho courts have adopted a totality of the circumstances test. The constitutional standard is whether the intrusive action of the police was reasonable in view of all the surrounding circumstances.” (internal citation, quotation marks, and alterations omitted)); State v. D‘Amour, 150 N.H. 122, 834 A.2d 214, 218 (2003) (“To justify a seizure under the community caretaking exception, the police officer must be able to point to specific and articulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant the community caretaking activity.” (internal brackets omitted)); State v. Diloreto, 180 N.J. 264, 850 A.2d 1226, 1234 (2004) (requiring community caretaking searches to be “objectively reasonable under the totality of the circumstances“).
Courts and commentators have developed various analytical tests for determining whether particular police activities fall within the community caretaking exception. However, “[n]o single set of specific requirements for applicability of the community caretaker exception has been adopted by a majority of those states recognizing the exception.” Ullom, 705 S.E.2d at 122; see also Deneui, 775 N.W.2d at 237-39 (discussing the various tests); Dimino, 66 Wash. & Lee L.Rev. at 1498-1512 (discussing various community caretaking tests); John F. Decker, Emergency Circumstances, Police Responses, and Fourth Amendment Restrictions, 89 J.Crim. L. & Criminology 433, 457-532 (1999) (surveying case law on the community caretaking exception).
The State should not be required to show that the officer was motivated solely by community caretaking considerations. The majority suggests that Cady imposed this sort of subjective requirement when the Court described community caretaking as “totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute.” Nowhere does Cady require that a community caretaking activity must be “totally divorced” from crime control, especially in a subjective sense. The quotation above simply makes the unremarkable observation that law enforcement officers sometimes do things besides investigate crime. See Kramer, 2009 WI 14, 132, 759 N.W.2d at 608. Even when performing community caretaking functions, peace officers are typically, if not always, attuned to the possibility that they may discover evidence of a crime in any given situation. Such considerations do not defeat Fourth Amendment reasonableness.
The United States Supreme Court has made it clear that “[a]n action is ‘reasonable’ under the Fourth Amendment, regardless of the individual officer‘s state of mind, as long as the circumstances, viewed objectively, justify the action. The officer‘s subjective motivation is irrelevant.” Brigham City, 547 U.S. at 404 (internal citations, quotation marks, and brackets omitted); cf. Michigan v. Fisher, 558 U.S. 45, 47, 130 S.Ct. 546, 175 L.Ed.2d 410 (2009) (per curiam) (noting that the similar “emergency aid” exception to the Fourth Amendment “does not depend on the officers’ subjective intent.... It requires only ‘an objectively reasonable basis for believing’ that immediate aid is needed (quoting Brigham City, 547 U.S. at 406)). In a similar vein, this Court has held that a traffic stop can be justified by probable cause under article I, section 7 “without regard to the subjective motivations of police officers.” Vineyard, 958 S.W.2d at 736.
Requiring the State to prove that a police action was motivated solely by community caretaking concerns would inappropriately shift the focus to the officer‘s (irrelevant) subjective motivations. See Kramer, 2009 WI 14, 130, 759 N.W.2d at 608 (concluding that the “totally divorced” language from Cady does not mean that if the police officer has any subjective law enforcement concerns, he cannot be engaging in a valid community caretaker function, and requiring only an objectively reasonable basis for the community caretaker function). Thus, the first prong of our proposed test would require the State to show that the officer possessed specific and articulable facts which, viewed objectively and in the totality of the circumstances, reasonably warranted a conclusion that a community caretaking action was needed.
Determining whether police action is objectively reasonable in light of the circumstances requires careful consideration of the facts of each case. Circumstances that should be considered include the nature and level of distress exhibited by the citizen, the location, the time of day, the accessibility and availability of assistance
The proof in this record shows that Officer Bige saw a person sitting alone in the driver‘s seat of a vehicle parked in a deserted commercial parking lot at approximately 2:00 a.m. The vehicle‘s headlights were on, but the engine was not running. The businesses nearest the vehicle, a bank and a grocery store, were closed, but an adjacent gas station was open. No-loitering signs were posted. Local police had been asked to conduct extra patrols of the parking lot under the suspicion that it was being used for drug transactions.
Officer Bige noticed the vehicle on her initial patrol, circled it, but continued her patrol of the area, and did not immediately approach the vehicle. She returned approximately five minutes later and saw that the vehicle and its occupant were still in the parking lot, with the vehicle‘s lights still on. Officer Bige parked behind the vehicle but, according to a statement by defense counsel at the suppression hearing, did not block it in. Officer Bige activated her blue lights, called in the license plate number, and approached the vehicle. She said she checked the vehicle because it was “strange that a car would be ... in a parking lot at almost ... 2:00 a.m. with the lights on.” As she approached, Officer Bige noticed that the driver‘s side window was open, and she asked Mr. Moats if he was okay. He responded that he was fine.
The circumstances leading up to this encounter provided specific and articulable facts which, when viewed objectively, would suggest to a reasonable officer that a community caretaking intervention was needed. Under the totality of these circumstances, Officer Bige could have reasonably concluded that the defendant needed assistance due to a vehicle malfunction, a medical emergency, or even that he may have been the victim of a crime.
These facts also demonstrate that Officer Bige‘s actions were restrained and that the scope of the intrusion was tailored to the community caretaking need. Officer Bige, the only officer on the scene, activated her blue lights, a reasonable precaution given the time of night.4 She called in the defendant‘s license plate number, also a reasonable precaution given that officers do not know who is in a car or how that person might react.5 She approached the driver‘s side window and posed a single question, inquiring about the defendant‘s welfare. When Officer Bige saw an open beer can in the cup holder and noticed the defendant‘s demeanor—“disoriented, very slow to speak, very sleepy acting“—she then had reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and was justified in extending the seizure and administering field sobriety tests. See People v. McDonough, 239 Ill.2d 260, 346 Ill.Dec. 496, 940 N.E.2d 1100, 1110 (2010); Ullom, 705 S.E.2d at 123-24.
Accordingly, we would hold that the warrantless seizure in this case was justified by the community caretaking exception to the Fourth Amendment‘s warrant
As a practical matter, the limitation adopted in Williams may deter Tennessee‘s police officers from acting as community caretakers—a result that could be detrimental to Tennessee‘s citizens. As one court has explained, the modern police officer is a “jack-of-all-emergencies” shouldering “multiple responsibilities.” Williams, 962 A.2d at 216. The Delaware
expected to aid individuals who are in danger of physical harm, assist those who cannot care for themselves, and provide other services on an emergency basis. To require reasonable suspicion of criminal activity before police can investigate and render assistance in these situations would severely hamstring their ability to protect and serve the public.
Id. at 217 (internal footnote and quotation marks omitted).
Indeed, as many courts have recognized, the public has a strong interest in encouraging the police to act as community caretakers. See, e.g., Kramer, 2009 WI 14, 142, 759 N.W.2d at 611 (“[T]he public has a substantial interest in police offering assistance to motorists who may need assistance, especially after dark and in areas ... where assistance may not be near at hand.“). Courts have even described community caretaking as a duty. See, e.g., McDonough, 940 N.E.2d at 1109-10 (“[Because t]he public has a substantial interest in ensuring that police offer assistance to motorists who may be stranded.... a law enforcement officer has the right to make a reasonable investigation of vehicles parked along roadways to offer such assistance as might be needed and to inquire into the physical condition of persons in vehicles.“); State v. Goebel, 103 Wis.2d 203, 307 N.W.2d 915, 917 (1981) (“[Community caretaking contacts] are not only authorized, but constitute an important duty of law enforcement officers.“).
There is nothing unreasonable about an exception to the warrant requirement that allows peace officers to perform their “right” and “duty” to act as community caretakers. “It must always be remembered that what the Constitution forbids is not all searches and seizures, but [only] unreasonable searches and seizures.” Elkins v. United States, 364 U.S. 206, 222, 80 S.Ct. 1437, 4 L.Ed.2d 1669 (1960). Because searches or seizures premised on legitimate caretaking concerns are not unreasonable, validating them does not erode any of the constitutional protections or diminish any of the constitutional rights we all hold so dear.
For these reasons, we respectfully dissent. Instead, we would reverse the judgment of the Court of Criminal Appeals and reinstate the trial court‘s judgment denying the motion to suppress because Officer Bige approached Mr. Moats‘s “vehicle in her community caretaking function.” Because the seizure was justified by the community caretaking exception, we would decline to address the State‘s alternative argument that the seizure was based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
Brenda GRIFFITH, Next of Kin of Decedent, Bob Griffith v. Dr. Stephen GORYL and Upper Cumberland Urology Associates, P.C.
Court of Appeals of Tennessee, Middle Section, at Nashville.
July 25, 2012 Session. Oct. 31, 2012.
Application for Permission to Appeal Denied by Supreme Court Feb. 13, 2013.
GARY R. WADE
CHIEF JUSTICE