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State v. Hamman3/8/2002
Miller's house in Lyndon in the early morning hours and arrested him. The magistrate judge dismissed the theft and burglary charges against Miller; on stipulated facts, the district court affirmed. This court determined that the stipulation did not contain probable cause to support a citizen's arrest. 257 Kan. at 852. This court remanded, however, directing the trial court to consider whether the arrest may have been valid, not as a citizen's arrest, but as an arrest by law enforcement officers in exigent circumstances, pursuant to 22- 2401a. 257 Kan. at 852-53.
Miller is entirely distinguishable from the present case on the facts. The basis for the officers' extraterritorial arrest of Miller was an informant's statement that Miller might have been involved in a burglary and theft. The basis for Smith's arrest of Hamman was his personal observation of her driving.
Although not raised by the State, there is an additional justification for Deputy Smith stopping Hamman. In State v. Vistuba, 251 Kan. 821, 840 P.2d 511 (1992), the deputy sheriff stopped Vistuba after observing him driving in much the same way as Hamman did in the present case. The deputy testified that he had no reason to believe Vistuba committed or was about to commit any crime or traffic violation. He stopped Vistuba because he believed Vistuba was falling asleep. The deputy proceeded to arrest Vistuba for DUI. We upheld the arrest on appeal, holding that " civil or criminal infraction is not always essential to justify a vehicle stop. Safety reasons alone may justify the stop if the safety reasons are based upon specific and articulable facts." 251 Kan. 821, Syl. 1. And further, such a stop does not violate either the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution or Section 15 of the Kansas Constitution Bill of Rights. At issue is public safety, and in Vistuba we found persuasive the following observation by the United States Supreme Court in upholding a warrantless search of defendant's vehicle based on public safety reasons:
"'Local police officers . . . frequently investigate vehicle accidents in which there is no claim of criminal liability and engage in what, for want of a better term, may be described as community caretaking functions, totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute.'" 251 Kan. at 824 (quoting Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433, 441, 37 L. Ed 2d 706, 93 S. Ct. 2523 ).
Here, the stop was made in Lyon County rather than Coffey County, but that is a distinction without a difference. In our view, there is no valid reason to limit a valid safety stop by Deputy Smith to Coffey County.
Affirmed.
DAVIS, J., not participating.
BRAZIL, S.J., assigned.
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