NC: Community caretaking function supported stop for striking animal on country road

Defendant was driving on a country road at night and a police officer was behind. An animal ran in front of her car, and she struck it. The officer turned on his blue lights and she stopped about a mile ahead. She was crying and the officer could smell alcohol. The stop on the totality was reasonable under the community caretaking function because, if she needed help, the area was too remote. State v. Smathers, 2014 N.C. App. LEXIS 60 (January 21, 2014):

Thus, we now formally recognize the community caretaking exception as a means of establishing the reasonableness of a search or seizure under the Fourth Amendment. See State v. Browning, 28 N.C. App. 376, 379, 221 S.E.2d 375, 377 (1976) (adopting a new rule of law based on well-reasoned decisions in other jurisdictions that was consistent with, although not directly supported by, precedent from the North Carolina Supreme Court). In recognizing this exception, we must apply a test that strikes a proper balance between the public’s interest in having officers help citizens when needed and the individual’s interest in being free from unreasonable governmental intrusion. See State v. Scott, 343 N.C. 313, 327, 471 S.E.2d 605, 613-14 (1996) (“In creating exceptions to the general [warrant requirement], this Court must consider the balance between the public interest and the individual’s right to personal security free from arbitrary interference by law officers.”) (citation and quotation marks omitted).

Despite its wide recognition, “[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.

Courts are split as to how the community caretaking doctrine should be classified from a Fourth Amendment perspective. A minority of jurisdictions characterizes community caretaking activities as consensual police-citizen encounters which do not rise to the level of “searches” or “seizures” under the Fourth Amendment. See Moats, 403 S.W.3d at 182, 187 n. 8 (“[T]he community caretaking function exists [in Tennessee] within the third tier of consensual police-citizen encounters that do not require probable cause or reasonable suspicion[.]”). However, North Carolina courts, as well as most courts in other jurisdictions, recognize that police interactions with citizens that do not amount to “searches” or “seizures” under the meaning of the Fourth Amendment do not trigger its safeguards. See State v. Sugg, 61 N.C. App. 106, 108-9, 300 S.E.2d 248, 250 (1983); see also People v. Luedemann, 222 Ill. 2d 530, 857 N.E.2d 187, 198-99, 306 Ill. Dec. 94 (Ill. 2006). Thus, we need not create an exception to the Fourth Amendment under the community caretaking doctrine to justify already permissible police-citizen interactions. See State v. Isenhour, 194 N.C. App. 539, 544-45, 670 S.E.2d 264, 268-69 (2008) (holding that reasonable suspicion was not required to justify an interaction that did not amount to a seizure under the Fourth Amendment).

There are also competing viewpoints as to the manner in which the subjective motivation of an officer should be taken into account when applying the community caretaking exception. A primary concern amongst courts which apply these tests is that the community caretaking exception not serve as pretext for impermissible criminal investigation. …

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Although these factors support defendant’s argument, we hold that the public’s need and interest in Officer Kreigsman’s actions outweigh defendant’s competing privacy interest. First, the seizure occurred at nighttime in what was described by Officer Kreigsman as a rural and dimly lit stretch of road. Since there was a lower probability that defendant could have gotten help from someone if she needed it, compared to if she had a similar collision during the day time in a highly populated area, this setting weighs in favor of the State’s argument that the public need or interest was furthered by Officer Kreigsman’s conduct. Second, Officer Kreigsman witnessed defendant strike a large animal with her vehicle and saw sparks when the car bounced on the road. Thus, he was able to identify specific facts which led him to believe that help may have been needed, rather than a general sense that something was wrong. Finally, defendant was operating a vehicle when she was seized rather than enjoying the privacy of her home. As this Court has noted, “[o]ne has a lesser expectation of privacy in a motor vehicle because its function is transportation and it seldom serves as one’s residence or as the repository of personal effects . … It travels public thoroughfares where both its occupants and its contents are in plain view.” State v. Francum, 39 N.C. App. 429, 432, 250 S.E.2d 705, 707 (1979) (quoting Cardwell v. Lewis, 417 U.S. 583, 590, 94 S. Ct. 2464, 41 L. Ed. 2d 325, 335 (1974)). Thus, the lessened expectation of privacy weighs in favor of the State’s argument that the seizure was reasonable.

Furthermore, because defendant was involved in a motor vehicle collision, a number of relevant statutory provisions are implicated. …