California attorney Allan Dollison weighs in on the Samantha Luna arrest.
"I watched these viral videos and read some of the coverage. This will be an interesting case. I think there was clear probable cause to stop the vehicle as the minor was placing part of their body through the sun roof of the car. Once a car is stopped police for officer safety have the right under most circumstances to order the driver out of the vehicle."
"The issue in this case will turn on the fact that Ms. Luna was not the minor nor the driver of the vehicle. The US Supreme Court addressed this in a very similar case called Brendlin v. California and ruled that a vehicle/driver seizure does not give law enforcement automatic detention authority over passengers. Law enforcement are allowed to ask passengers to identify themselves, by providing name and date of birth. Ms. Luna did provide that."
"I think the confusion will come in this case is Did Ms. Luna flunk what is frequently called the attitude test? Yes she did. She should have toned down her approach and none of this would probably have ever happened BUT in the true eyes of the law there is NO such thing called the attitude test."
"Rather in order to convict someone of 148(a)(1) Resisting Arrest, there actually has to be a lawful basis for the arrest. As I have laid out, there is not proper basis for the seizure-arrest of the passenger here. The relevant CALCRIM is 2670, and states in a portion the following, “[A peace officer is not lawfully performing his or her duties if he or sheis (unlawfully arresting or detaining someone/ [or] using unreasonableor excessive force in his or her duties). Instruction 2670 explains (when an arrest or detention is unlawful/ [and] when force is unreasonable orexcessive).]."
"So for me the act of the officer pulling Ms. Luna out of the car was not lawful. There was no lawful arrest that gave her the ability to lawfully resist as in a sense she is literally being falsely imprisoned."
" Also a claim made by the officer that Luna was drunk in public, or in violation of 647(f) of the Penal Code will not suffice. Many do not understand this law and fail to appreciate the standard for a violation of that offense. It requires more than just being drunk in public. Rather the person must also be a danger to themselves or to others. Just from watching the video and factoring that she was merely the passenger there is scant evidence that she will meet that standard. There are serious problems with this case from the criminal realm."
"The issue in this case will turn on the fact that Ms. Luna was not the minor nor the driver of the vehicle. The US Supreme Court addressed this in a very similar case called Brendlin v. California and ruled that a vehicle/driver seizure does not give law enforcement automatic detention authority over passengers. Law enforcement are allowed to ask passengers to identify themselves, by providing name and date of birth. Ms. Luna did provide that."
"I think the confusion will come in this case is Did Ms. Luna flunk what is frequently called the attitude test? Yes she did. She should have toned down her approach and none of this would probably have ever happened BUT in the true eyes of the law there is NO such thing called the attitude test."
"Rather in order to convict someone of 148(a)(1) Resisting Arrest, there actually has to be a lawful basis for the arrest. As I have laid out, there is not proper basis for the seizure-arrest of the passenger here. The relevant CALCRIM is 2670, and states in a portion the following, “[A peace officer is not lawfully performing his or her duties if he or sheis (unlawfully arresting or detaining someone/ [or] using unreasonableor excessive force in his or her duties). Instruction 2670 explains (when an arrest or detention is unlawful/ [and] when force is unreasonable orexcessive).]."
"So for me the act of the officer pulling Ms. Luna out of the car was not lawful. There was no lawful arrest that gave her the ability to lawfully resist as in a sense she is literally being falsely imprisoned."
" Also a claim made by the officer that Luna was drunk in public, or in violation of 647(f) of the Penal Code will not suffice. Many do not understand this law and fail to appreciate the standard for a violation of that offense. It requires more than just being drunk in public. Rather the person must also be a danger to themselves or to others. Just from watching the video and factoring that she was merely the passenger there is scant evidence that she will meet that standard. There are serious problems with this case from the criminal realm."
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As I understand it, she uses two last names but gave the officer one last name, so dispatch was apparently unable to find a match. I don't know that that's the officer's fault. I don't know that the officer couldn't have handled it differently, as I have only seen the recordings the minor released so I don't have a complete picture. But it seems to me that if you're drunk enough to fail the attitude test, you're drunk enough to be a danger to yourself and others.
ReplyDeleteOh please Doug...I fail the attitude test on a daily and trust and believe I'm neither drunk or a danger to myself..
ReplyDeleteGood Job Allan you are a very smart Man...
Rh, were you ever in a car with a minor, intoxicated, resisted arrest, made a scene and then the minor got arrested? We don't have all the information or the complete video. We have what an obnoxious woman put up on her Facebook and Twitter and it is not evidence in a court of law. I know you like Allan. But that does not give you the right to disrespect my other readers. Both Allan and Doug are very knowledgeable about the law. Right now with the information we have, I wouldn't make any definitive statements.
DeleteHi John: I tried to be as fair and balanced as possible. Including my comments that Ms. Luna did not act appropriately. I want to take issue with your statement that those videos are not evidence in a Court of law. They absolutely will be evidence and will absolutely come in. It is unclear whether or not HSU wears body cams. I did not see one on Officer Jackson. I do not recalll them using body cams when I was in the DAs office. Both sides will want those videos in evidence.
DeleteAllan, "will be evidence" is the point. You know that I respect and have had personal experience with you correctly providing opinion and analysis of court cases. In this incident, all we have so far is videos posted by Luna, which do not appear complete. Whether they were edited or partially recorded, who knows? They have yet to become evidence and we are not at that stage of the criminal proceedings. If that even happens. Between the weekend and today, there have been thousands of comments. Whether HSU has bodycams or not, I bet other people took video and there will be eyewitnesses. My response was to RH and anyone else, not to take sides at this juncture.Let the DA review this let other investigations be completed. I think Doug had a valid point. Your analysis and post was very helpful. We are having a national phenomenon of people posting videos crying racism lately and then more facts come out.
DeleteThe other person arrested, a juvenile was arrested for public intoxication and other charges, according to a UPD press release. So who furnished alcohol to the minor? Luna? The other passengers? That is a public safety issue and someone endangered that minor by providing that minor alcohol.
ReplyDeleteLuna created the situation where Officer Jackson had to pull her out of the car. Then Luna chose to assault Officer Jackson. Whether the arrest or the procedure was justified or lawful, Luna could have just complied and answered questions politely and if she had an issue, file a complaint later. I don't believe comments without proof anymore than Luna's version of videos but there is talk of other interactions people have had with Luna.
Instead of a racism problem, Arcata has a F the police attitude and accusations made by drunk kids and young adults who could use some discipline and being taught to take responsibity for their actions.
As a matter of fact yes I have been and I don't recall being disrespectful at all. I read read my post and their is nothing disrespectful about it but thank you, have a good night 😙
ReplyDeleteYou are just behaving because you know Allan will read this 😂 It's all good. Keep the comments coming, sass and all.
DeleteLMAO.. 😉
ReplyDelete