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Hospital security officers were not "state actors"

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Hospital security officers were at the emergency room assisting with a gunshot victim brought to the hospital in a car. One asked about whether there was a gun in the car, and the driver said there was. He asked the driver to get out of and step away from the car. He searched the car and located a gun. This search was not state action. State v. Buford, 2008 Ohio 2231, 2008 Ohio App. LEXIS 1918 (2d Dist. May 9, 2008).* When drugs were found during an inventory of defendant's car, a further search of the car was justified under the automobile exception. There is no "special exigency" or "separate exigency" requirement for the automobile exception. State v. Allensworth, 2008 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 67 n.4 (May 9, 2008): We use the term "special exigency" to refer to some circumstance beyond the inherent mobility of the vehicle that makes it impossible or impractical for the police to obtain a search warrant prior to the vehicle being moved away...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 12, 2008 (boomark / email).