AR: Passenger puking out the car door was not shown to be a medical emergency

Passenger puking out the door on a parking lot was not reasonable suspicion for a stop, and the community caretaking function does not apply because there was no medical emergency. Meeks v. State, 2016 Ark. App. 9 (Jan. 13, 2016):

Although the police have the right to respond to emergency situations, the Fourth Amendment bars police officers from engaging in a warrantless seizure based on an alleged medical condition unless the police officer can show that it was objectively reasonable to believe that a person was in need of immediate aid or was in imminent danger. See Mincey, supra; Miller, supra. There must be an objectively reasonable basis for believing that medical assistance was needed or persons were in danger. Miller, supra. In this case, there are no facts to indicate that Meeks or his passenger was in imminent danger or that anyone in the vehicle was in need of immediate aid. When viewed objectively, it is clear that it was unreasonable for Officer Mercado to think that Meeks or his passenger was in imminent need or danger of any of these things. Therefore, there was no emergency that authorized Officer Mercado’s stop of Meeks under the facts of this case.