CA6: No standing in a carjacked car; EMS didn’t seize passed out suspect

Defendant had no standing in a stolen car. He carjacked it five days earlier, and he was found unconscious in it sitting at the gas pumps of a convenience store. EMS arrived, and he revived. He wasn’t really “seized” by EMS who got there before the police did, and the “detention” for 30 seconds after he came to and said he wanted to leave was reasonable considering his condition when he was found. United States v. Overton, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 7345, 2014 FED App. 0282N (6th Cir. April 15, 2014):

Upon waking, Overton seemed confused and disoriented and grabbed the shirt of the firefighter who administered the sternum rub. While the EMS personnel were talking to Overton and attempting to ascertain his condition, he shifted his legs in his seat and exposed the handle of a .45 caliber pistol. At this point, the EMS personnel began to get nervous for their safety and the safety of those around them. They accordingly removed Overton from the car and secured the pistol.

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Even assuming the EMS personnel seized Overton, however, the inquiry under the Fourth Amendment is not merely whether a seizure has occurred; it is whether, provided there has been a seizure, that seizure was unreasonable. Maryland v. Buie, 494 U.S. 325, 331 (1990) (“It goes without saying that the Fourth Amendment bars only unreasonable searches and seizures[.]”). Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Government, we conclude that Overton’s seizure was reasonable. As the transcript of the suppression hearing reflects, EMS personnel detained Overton, who was unconscious when they arrived on the scene, in order to render medical aid. They did not seek to arrest or incapacitate Overton. Overton’s detention lasting for twenty to thirty seconds after he said he was fine accordingly does not amount to an unreasonable seizure. See Peete v. Metro. Gov’t of Nashville & Davidson Cnty., 486 F.3d 217, 222 (6th Cir. 2007) (finding no Fourth Amendment violation where paramedics merely responded to a medical emergency and “were not acting to enforce the law, deter or incarcerate”). The district court therefore did not err when it denied Overton’s motion to suppress the .45 caliber pistol, which came into the EMS personnel’s plain view during Overton’s detention.