Wright v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

55 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 56 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(1) the nature and level of the distress exhibited by the individual; (2) the location of the individual; (3) whether or not the individual was alone and/or had access to assistance independent of that offered by the officer; and (4) to what extent the individual — if not assisted — presented a danger to himself or others.”

   7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Andrews v. State · Chilman v. State

2. “may stop and assist an individual whom a reasonable person, given the totality of the circumstances, would believe is in need of help.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Mary Osborne v. State of Indiana · Gibson v. State

3. “Local police officers, unlike federal officers, frequently investigate vehicle accidents in which there is no claim of criminal liability and engage in what, for want of a better term, may be described as community caretaking functions, totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Gibson v. State · Wiede v. State