DUI Case Highlights from Paul Burglin San Francisco DUI Attorney - Tate v. People

 Posted on May 23, 2013 in DUI

No Fourth Amendment Detention Where Motorist Unaware Of It
Tate v. People
___ P.3d ___, 2012 WL 6685769 (Colo.), 2012 CO 75

A person is not “seized" within contemplation of the Fourth Amendment unless he is conscious of it. Thus, an officer did not detain a motorist by blocking his departure where the motorist was passed out.

“As Professor LaFave has observed, `If, as stated in Brendlin, for a person to be seized he must “perceive a show of authority as directed at him" it would seem to follow that if the person claiming to have been subjected to a Terry stop was not aware of that police conduct necessary to “a show of authority," then again there has been no seizure.’ 4 Wayne R. LaFave, Search and Seizure § 9.4, at 153 (4 ^th ed. Supp. 2011-2012)(quoting Brendlin, 551 U.S. at 262)."