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State v. Campbell12/17/2001
him to reasonably believe the defendant was in need of assistance. Marcello, 157 Vt. at 658, 599 A.2d at 358.
We agree with the trial court that the officer in this case acted reasonably. Given that the officer was in a marked police cruiser when defendant flashed her lights at him, that it was a particularly stormy night, and that defendant's car was in the Quechee Gorge Information Booth parking lot, the officer had every reason to believe that the driver or passengers of the vehicle were seeking his assistance. Defendant argues that the facts of this case are identical to those in State v. Burgess, 163 Vt. 259, 657 A.2d 202 (1995). In Burgess, we held that the community care taking doctrine did not apply where an officer approached a legally parked vehicle on the side of the road and inquired whether they needed assistance. 163 Vt. at 262, 657 A.2d at 204. Burgess is clearly distinguishable from this case: whereas in Burgess " here was nothing . . . to indicate that defendant was in any type of distress," here the officer was signaled by the vehicle. Id.
Defendant argues that once the officer had exited the cruiser and observed that the driver and passenger of the vehicle were romantically involved, he no longer had reason to suspect that they were in need of assistance. Had the officer not seen the vehicle flash its lights at him, defendant's assertion might be plausible. However, under these set of facts, one can envision circumstances where one of the passengers needed assistance despite the fact that they appeared to be embracing, or even because such an embrace was non-consensual. In any event, the officer "did not know the nature of defendant's problem . . . he most reasonable course of action under these circumstances was . . . to determine if assistance was needed." Marcello, 157 Vt. at 658, 599 A.2d at 358.
Affirmed.
Jeffrey L. Amestoy, Chief Justice
John A. Dooley, Associate Justice
James L. Morse, Associate Justice
Denise R. Johnson, Associate Justice
Marilyn S. Skoglund, Associate Justice
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