SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A state court ruling says that it was constitutionally reasonable for a reserve sheriff’s deputy to briefly arrest a DWI suspect although the reserve deputy wasn’t a commissioned peace officer.
A trial judge had suppressed evidence from a regular deputy’s subsequent arrest of the suspect. But the Court of Appeals said the public’s “strong interest in apprehending and prosecuting drunk drivers outweighed the minor intrusion” on the suspect’s privacy rights.
The recent ruling revives the Torrance County case against Somer Wright by reversing the suppression order and sending case back to District Court for further proceedings.
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The ruling said the reserve deputy told Wright to “hang tight” after he saw her drive erratically before her vehicle hit a parked truck in her driveway and nearly hit the reserve deputy’s vehicle.
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