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WI: A car parked on the shoulder of a highway with the flashers on invites a police look

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

An officer pulling over to check a vehicle parked on the side of a highway with its lights flashing is subject to the community caretaking function, assuming that a "stop" even occurs. Here, the officer walked up to the side window and determined that the driver was intoxicated. The court admits that the Wisconsin court's have unnecessarily confused the Cady doctrine. State v. Kramer, 2008 Wisc. App. LEXIS 247 (March 27, 2008): P19 Under the first factor, Kramer argues that the public interest in the officer's conduct was low. We disagree. The public has a substantial interest in encouraging police officers to be on the look-out for and offer aid to motorists who may be stranded or otherwise in need of assistance. "Contacts of this sort are not only authorized, but constitute an important duty of law enforcement officers...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 30, 2008 (boomark / email).