UNC Professor Challenging DUI Stop by Firefighter

Argues use of sirens gave color of law to a citizen arrest and amounted to an illegal search and seizure

When a North Carolina firefighter switched on the siren atop his Chapel Hill Fire Department truck to get a driver he suspected of being impaired to pull over, he probably didn't expect to ignite a constitutional debate.

But that's exactly what has happened. The woman Fire Lt. Gordon Shatley pulled over on his way back from a call was Dorothy Hoogland Verkerk, a professor at the University of North Carolina and former town council member who is arguing use of the fire truck and siren - which are not authorized for law enforcement actions - gave the color of government to what might otherwise have been a lawful citizen's arrest. And although a lower court upheld Verkerk's arrest, an appellate court remanded the case with instructions to consider whether it was an illegal search and seizure.