State v. Smith

The majority holds that the officer safety exception articulated by the Supreme Court in State v. Bates, 304 Or 519, 747 P2d 991 (1987), does not apply in this case, in which a lone police officer, in a remote forested area, confronted a group of five individuals with firearms to cite them for violations involving the use of their firearms. I do not agree that the trial court erred in determining that the officer safety exception applied to the encounter, because “it is not our function to uncharitably second-guess an officer’s judgment” when “the precautions taken were reasonable under the…