State v. Wheeler

¶28 I dissent. I think we have stretched the community caretaker doctrine to the breaking point under the facts presented here. I would conclude the District Court erred in applying the doctrine in this case.

*186¶29 As noted by the Court at ¶ 18, our test in Lovegren requires “objective, specific and articulable facts from which an experienced officer would suspect that a citizen is in need of help or in peril ....” Such facts clearly existed in the three cases cited by the Court. See Lovegren (vehicle parked on the side of the highway at 3:00 a.m. in remote Richland County, with engine running…