Firetruck traffic stop challenged

A Chapel Hill firefighter is at the center of a Fourth Amendment debate after he stopped a car driven by an impaired UNC art professor in 2011.

Fire Lt. Gordon Shatley saw UNC professor Dorothy Verkerk’s car stopped at an intersection with its headlights off at 10:30 p.m. on May 27, 2011, according to the case brief. He and his crew, who were in a firetruck at the time, noticed her car weaving in and out of its lane and moving at approximately 15 mph below the speed limit.

Shatley radioed police communications to alert them, but the case brief said Verkerk’s car continued to veer across lanes.

Police still had not arrived, and Shatley said he felt he had to take action.

He testified that he instructed the firetruck’s driver to activate the truck’s red lights and flash the sirens to make sure cars would stop passing them — not to perform a traffic stop — but Verkerk pulled over.

Shatley got out of the firetruck and approached Verkerk. He did not ask if Verkerk had been drinking or perform field sobriety tests, according to the case brief. Because he hadn’t heard from the Chapel Hill Police Department, Verkerk parked and agreed to have someone pick her up.

The incident has turned into a court case known as State of North Carolina v. Verkerk, now pending at the N.C. Supreme Court.

‘A one-time incident’

“(Performing a traffic stop) was a one-time incident just based on what we encountered,” Shatley said. “I can’t say we’d do it again. We did what we thought was best for the community and herself.”

Police officers arrived on scene and issued a citation charging Verkerk with driving while impaired and driving with a revoked license.

Verkerk served on the Chapel Hill Town Council between December 2001 and December 2005.

In July 2012, Verkerk and her attorney, Matthew Suczynski, filed a motion to have any evidence obtained as a result of stopping her vehicle suppressed on the grounds that the stop was a violation of her Fourth Amendment right against illegal search and seizure.

“From a moral standpoint, (Shatley) did the right thing,” Suczynski said. “I believe professor Verkerk would say the same — it’s just a question of whether or not criminal consequences should flow from that.”

Verkerk said she thought firefighters are not trained to perform traffic stops, which can be dangerous.

“Traffic stops are one of the most dangerous things that police do,” Verkerk said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “God forbid, what if I had had a gun?”

Superior Court Judge Elaine Bushfan ultimately denied Verkerk’s request to suppress the evidence obtained during the traffic stop.

According to the appeals case document, Verkerk entered a negotiated plea in September 2012, pleading guilty to driving while impaired under the condition that the state would voluntarily dismiss the driving with a revoked license charge.

The authority

The court of appeals reviewed the case and ordered a new hearing to determine whether Shatley acted as a government official or as a private citizen when he stopped Verkerk, and whether the stop and citation issued by police were legal.

“Firefighters, according to the Chapel Hill town ordinances, are allowed to act as police officers in very limited circumstances — basically when responding to a fire and somebody interferes with that,” Suczynski said.

“Lt. Shatley didn’t have the authority to use the firetruck to cause a traffic stop.”

Suczysnki said the N.C. Supreme Court will decide whether the case will be heard in the next 60 days. Until then, Verkerk’s DWI charge has been vacated.

Curt Varone, a practicing attorney and a former deputy assistant fire chief in Providence, R.I., said the case raises important concerns about the legal rights of firefighters.

“If you ask, ‘should firefighters run around apprehending drivers for traffic violations?’ — obviously the answer is no,” Varone said.

“But if a firefighter sees an impaired driver and that driver is a hazard to other people and the firefighter has the tools to safely apprehend that person, is it illegal for the firefighter to do that? It’s a complex problem.”

Varone said while he does not think firefighters should be encouraged to perform traffic stops, they should not be punished for doing so in the name of public safety.

“I think if you ask someone who’s lost a loved one to a drunk driver whether or not, two minutes before the accident, a firetruck officer should have done something to try to apprehend that driver, I think you know what the answer’s going to be.”

city@dailytarheel.com