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137 Idaho 821

54 P.3d 464

State v. Maddox

Idaho Court of Appeals

Decided June 13, 2002

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Idaho Court of Appeals · decided 2002-06-13

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 2002-06-13

How this case has been cited

Cited by 9 later decisions — most recently May 2025

9 state decisions

40200220102020decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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Judge GUTIERREZ

¶1Dissenting.

¶2I respectfully dissent. I am in general accord with the constitutional analysis articulated in the majority opinion in the area of the Fourth Amendment, but would reach a different conclusion under the totality of the circumstances.

¶3The facts identify a situation that developed and called for Officer Reyes to take action in what might involve injury to an unknown person. Reyes first was approached by Maddox and another individual who indicated that they were searching for a friend that was on foot. Considering this information, along with the time of day involved and the isolated area lacking in utilities, services or traffic, Reyes reasonably believed a search and rescue might be at hand. Reyes’ concern for the missing friend was heightened when he later came upon the car in which Maddox had been traveling earlier and saw it positioned on a hillside, an area denoted as Cycle Park and involving rugged terrain. Reyes believed the friend had been found, perhaps with injury. He approached the Maddox car, and the car proceeded farther up a motorcycle trail. Reyes, taking into account the type of vehicle involved, a 1970s or early 1980s Firebird or Camaro type car and the rough terrain, became concerned that the vehicle would get stuck on the trail. It was reasonable for the officer to anticipate this problem as he was familiar with the difficulties the area posed for non-four-wheel-drive vehicles and especially those having little clearance, such as the Maddox car.

¶4Reyes turned on his overhead lights signaling the Maddox vehicle to stop. Approaching and questioning Maddox, Reyes was primarily concerned for the missing friend and queried Maddox on this, despite Maddox’s disclosure that he was not supposed to be driving. As it turned out, the friend had not been located and the vehicle did not get stuck.

¶5Considering the totality of the circumstances, it was reasonable for Reyes in this instance to be concerned for citizen injury and vehicle problems. The fact that neither resulted does not remove the situation from the community earetaking responsibilities en*827gaged in by law enforcement officers. Furthermore, the parties do not contend that the stop was initiated for the purpose of criminal investigation. Here, in my opinion, the public interest for safety of persons and property outweighed the limited intrusion of stopping the Maddox vehicle. Accordingly, I would uphold the constitutional validity of the stop and the denial of Maddox’s motion to suppress.

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