NM Supreme Court Rules Arrest By Volunteer Reserve Deputy Unconstitutional
A volunteer reserve deputy’s arrest of a suspected drunken driver violated New Mexico’s constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday. The arrest also violated a state law authorizing only commissioned, salaried peace officers to make arrests for misdemeanor motor vehicle-related offenses.
The Court unanimously reversed a divided decision of the state Court of Appeals that would have allowed prosecutors to use evidence obtained from the unauthorized arrest of Somer D. Wright by the noncommissioned deputy with the Torrance County Sheriff’s Office.
Thompson was in uniform and a marked patrol vehicle in 2014 when he followed Wright’s truck to her home after she had passed him. He claimed the truck nearly struck his vehicle. The deputy blocked Wright’s truck after she parked in her driveway. He shined a spotlight on her truck, approached on foot and instructed her to remain in the vehicle until a commissioned sheriff’s deputy arrived, which occurred about four or five minutes later. The commissioned deputy arrested Wright after she failed a field sobriety test and refused to take a breath alcohol test.
The Court concluded that Reserve Deputy Roy Thompson’s actions were constitutionally unreasonable when “balancing the degree to which the arrest intruded upon Defendant’s privacy with the degree to which the arrest was needed to promote legitimate government interests.”
Read more: https://abq.news/2022/01/nm-supreme-court-rules-arrest-by-volunteer-reserve-deputy-unconstitutional/