\u201cPublic safety exception\u201d applies to asking defendant about a possible meth lab in the car. It isn\u2019t just limited to questions about guns. United States v. Noonan, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17794 (N.D. Iowa February 11, 2013):<\/p>\n
First, the court finds that Defendant’s argument that the public safety exception is limited to the context of firearms is without merit. In United States v. Luker, 395 F.3d 830 (8th Cir. 2005), the Eighth Circuit held that the public safety exception was applicable where an officer, without first advising the defendant of his Miranda rights, asked the defendant “if there was anything in [the defendant’s] vehicle that shouldn’t be there or that [the officers] should know about.” Id. at 832. The Eighth Circuit held that the defendant’s response was admissible because “[t]he officers were aware of [the defendant’s] methamphetamine use and were concerned about needles or substances associated with such use in the car.” Id. at 833-34. … Thus, the Eighth Circuit has extended the public safety exception beyond the context of firearms.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the Eighth Circuit has recognized the public safety hazard posed by the manufacture of methamphetamine. See United States v. Ellefson, 419 F.3d 859, 866 n.4 (8th Cir. 2005) (“[T]he manufacture of methamphetamine is an inherently dangerous activity that creates substantial risks to public health and safety.”); United States v. Walsh, 299 F.3d 729, 734 (8th Cir. 2002) (holding that there were exigent circumstances justifying the officers’ warrantless search of a storage shed where an officer smelled ether and saw equipment that “suggested an on-going manufacture in the shed” and noting that “[t]he potential hazards of methamphetamine manufacture are well documented”); …. Given these dangers, the court finds that the public safety exception is applicable where an officer is concerned about a possible methamphetamine lab. See United States v. King, 182 F. App’x 88, 91 (3d Cir. 2006) (holding that there was no Miranda violation where officers’ questions were aimed at “obtain[ing] safety information … before law enforcement personnel entered the potentially dangerous clandestine methamphetamine laboratory” (quoting United States v. King, 366 F. Supp. 2d 265, 274 (E.D. Pa. 2005)).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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