Abuse of Power? Examining Police Use of ‘Community Caretaking’ in Illegal Hotel Room Searches

Under the Fourth Amendment, defendant had a legitimate expectation of *320 privacy in his rented hotel room. See Stoner v. California, 376 U.S. 483, 490, 84 S.Ct. 889, 11 L.Ed.2d 856 (1964); United States v. Kitchens, 114 F.3d 29, 31 (4th Cir. 1997). Additionally, warrantless searches are presumptively unreasonable unless the search falls within a valid exception. See Hupp v. Cook, 931 F.3d 307, 326 (4th Cir. 2019) (citing Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 586, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980)).

The government cites the so-called “community caretaker” exception as justification for the officers dispensing with the warrant requirement in entering the hotel room. Community caretaking functions include established procedures or routine activities such as impoundment of a vehicle that impedes the safe flow of traffic, entry into a car after a traffic accident to assess occupants’ medical conditions, or opening a truck compartment to identify the owner. See South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 368–69, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976); United States v. Johnson, 410 F.3d 137, 145 (4th Cir. 2005); Durney v. Doss, 106 F. App’x 166, 169 (4th Cir. 2004). The Fourth Circuit has held that the community caretaking doctrine also extends to activities “protecting the safety of persons or property.” United States v. Gillespie, 332 F. Supp. 2d 923, 929 (W.D. Va. 2004); see Phillips v. Peddle, 7 F. App’x 175, 178 (4th Cir. 2001). Courts have distinguished this doctrine from the separate, but related, exception justified by exigent or emergency circumstances. See, e.g., Hunsberger v. Wood, 570 F.3d 546, 554 (4th Cir. 2009) (“The community caretaking doctrine requires a court to look at the function performed by a police officer, while the emergency exception requires an analysis of the circumstances to determine whether an emergency requiring immediate action existed. Thus, as the district court noted, the doctrines have different intellectual underpinnings.”).

Read more here: United States v. Hewitt, 543 F.Supp.3d 317 (2021), https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-hewitt-19