State v. Kurth
Annotate this CaseThis case presented the question of whether an officer is justified in activating his emergency lights and blocking a driver into a parking space under the "community caretaking function" exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment based solely upon his knowledge that the vehicle has just struck an object in the roadway and suffered minor damage not affecting the drivability of the car. Here the district court denied Defendant driver's motion to suppress the evidence found after the warrantless seizure of Defendant's car, and Defendant was found guilty of OWI. The Supreme Court reversed the district court, concluding that under the circumstances of this case, the community caretaking exception was inapplicable, and the seizure was impermissible. Remanded.
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