You don’t have to attend basic law enforcement training to identify a potential impaired driver. Plenty of folks without police training could roll off a list of tell-tale signs, including excessive weaving, driving without headlights, and driving with the windows down in cold weather, particular when those signs are observed in the evening hours in the vicinity of a place serving alcohol. Because impaired driving poses such a danger to the public, a person who suspects that a driver is impaired might reasonably deem the situation an emergency. The most obvious course of action is to call 911. But what if the person also is driving a vehicle equipped with some sort of warning light or siren? Like a firefighting vehicle. Or a security vehicle. May the concerned citizen stop the vehicle and detain the person until law enforcement officers arrive? The answer is unclear. A private person may stop and detain another person when the private person has probable cause to believe that the other person has committed in his presence a (1) felony, (2) a breach of the peace, (3) a crime involving physical injury to another person, or (4) a crime involving theft or destruction of property. G.S. 15A-404(b). The detention must be in a reasonable manner considering the offense involved and the circumstances of the detention. G.S. 15A-404(c). A breach of the peace is the only category potentially applicable to a misdemeanor DWI that doesn’t involve injury to another or to property. The court of appeals in [...]
Faculty Coordinators
