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Kansas - On August 7, 2009, the Court of Appeals of Kansas issued a new DUI opinion in the case of City of Salina v. Troy Ragnoni. The case concerns the ability of an officer to legally stop a person for public safety in order to check on that individual's welfare.
In this case, the police received information that the subject, Mr. Ragnoni, was potentially suicidal. Based on information received from his ex-wife, the police had added him to a "hot sheet" that told police officers that he was potentially suicidal. Per police department policy, once a person is labeled as potentially suicidal and put on the hot sheet, their name remains there until they are either located and deemed to be not suicidal, or taken to a hospital for evaluation.
After three days of being on the hot sheet, Officer Chad McCary of the Salina Police Department spotted Ragnoni's vehicle. He followed him to the driveway of a private residence and observed him and his wife and three kids exit the 1989 GMC Jimmy.
It turned out that Mr. Ragnoni exhibited signs of alcohol impairment and was arrested for DUI. He was later convicted of two counts of DUI. He appealed and the district court agreed with him that the stop was not justified. The City of Salina then appealed to the Court of Appeals.
In this opinion, the Court of Appeals reinstated the conviction, reasoning that under the facts of the case a public safety stop, even after three days, was justified. There is a strong public policy reason to check up on people who are potentially suicidal, because they often pose a grave danger to their own life and to the lives of others.
Therefore, in this case, according to the opinion of the Kansas Court of Appeals, the stop was clearly to advance the public interest.
Judge John Weckel wrote the opinion for the Court. Attorney Jennifer L. Wyatt represented the City of Salina, and Andrew Couch of Salina, and Lowell C. Paul of Topeka represented Mr. Ragnoni.
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