State of Iowa v. Jeffrey Dana Kurth

*271MANSFIELD, Justice.

This case presents the question whether an officer is justified in activating his emergency lights and blocking a driver into a parking space under the “community caretaking function” exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment based solely upon his knowledge that the vehicle has just struck an object in the roadway and suffered minor damage not affecting the drivability of the car. We conclude that under these circumstances, the community caretaking exception is inapplicable, and the seizure was impermissible. For this reason, we reverse the judgment of…