New passed out drunk decision

The Defendant was in a turn lane with his car in park. A citizen had called in that a driver was sleeping in the turn lane. The officer arrived. It took several attempts to wake the drunk, who could not answer why he was sleeping in the turn lane. The officer reached into the car to turn off the ignition and placed the keys on the hood of the car.

The defendant argued he was seized without reasonable suspicion and that he should have been Mirandized once the officer took the keys. He lost.

First, the officer seized the defendant while performing his community care-taking function. Second the keys/Miranda issue was not dispositive and was not proper for appeal.

Read the case at:

http://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/salmonwillopn.pdf