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State v. Hendrickson6/10/1997
Coal Co. (1995), 271 Mont. 459, 469, 898 P.2d 680, 686.
In Montana, police officers are given authority to arrest a person without an arrest warrant pursuant to § 46-6-311(1), MCA, which provides:
(1) A peace officer may arrest a person when a warrant has not been issued if the officer has probable cause to believe that the person is committing an offense or that the person has committed an offense and existing circumstances require immediate arrest.
An individual citizen may affect an arrest under the following circumstances:
(1) A private person may arrest another when there is probable cause to believe that the person is committing or has committed an offense and the existing circumstances require the person's immediate arrest.
(2) A private person making an arrest shall immediately notify the nearest available law enforcement agency or peace officer and give custody of the person arrested to the officer or agency.
Section 46-6-502, MCA. In addition, this Court has held that peace officers do not lose their status as private citizens when they are outside of their jurisdiction. State v. McDole (1987), 226 Mont. 169, 172, 734 P.2d 683, 685. Section 46-6-502, MCA, authorizes arrest by private citizens when there is probable cause to believe that the person is committing an offense. We have held that a peace officer outside his or her jurisdiction can still perform an arrest as a private citizen. McDole, 734 P.2d at 685.
In the present case, the District Court concluded that Woodland was outside his jurisdiction as a peace officer and that he exceeded his authority as a private citizen. In granting Hendrickson's motion to dismiss, the District Court stated:
It's clear to me that Officer Woodland was not given any authority to arrest. The granting of the authority to make a traffic stop does not make the authority to arrest, necessarily. And yet he proceeded in the presence of Bozeman police officers to do several things, which would be incident to an arrest: First, he arrested the defendant. He did not turn him over to the Bozeman police authorities. He thence proceeded to act as a police officer in the sense that he went through the various and sundry DUI field sobriety maneuvers. Then he took the defendant down to the detention center and then issued a ticket based on Belgrade city forms.
Although the District Court was correct in concluding that Woodland over-stepped his authority when he failed to give custody of Hendrickson to the Bozeman City Police once Keim and McManis arrived, Woodland's actions prior to their arrival were within his authority as a private citizen. Because § 46-6-502(2) required Woodland to relinquish custody to the Bozeman law enforcement authorities, his actions before the arrival of Keim and McManis and after their arrival will be analyzed separately.
Woodland's authority as a private citizen
Under § 46-6-502(1), MCA, Woodland was within his authority as a private citizen to observe Hendrickson's erratic driving, to perform the traffic stop as requested, and to relate his observations of Hendrickson's slurred speech, odor of alcohol and bloodshot eyes. In McDole, a Eureka police department officer responded to a call based upon reports of possible DUI and leaving the scene of an accident by McDole in the city of Eureka. McDole, 734 P.2d at 684. After the officer arrived at McDole's residence, outside the city of Eureka, McDole walked out of his house and said, "Take me! Take me!" This statement combined with the Eureka police officer's own observations led him to believe that McDole may have been driving under the influenc
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