CopyCited 7 times | Published | Florida 4th District Court of Appeal | 1997 WL 149210
...In examining the issue, *708 the county court noted that Florida case law delineates the circumstances under which a misdemeanor arrest can take place. The most obvious circumstance is where the officer witnesses each element of a prima facie case. See §
901.15(1), Fla.Stat. (1993). Additionally, pursuant to section
316.645, Florida Statutes (1993), when an officer is investigating an "accident" he may develop probable cause to charge DUI....
CopyCited 2 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal
...Briefly, appellant's theory is that Officer Green was without authority to arrest Sheffield because the offense which she had committed was a noncriminal traffic infraction. Appellant points out that an officer's authority to arrest without a warrant is limited to that authorized by statute, and that only Section
316.645 arguably provides such authorization in this case. Also, Section
316.645 has been interpreted in light of Chapter 318 as not providing authority to make an arrest for a noncriminal traffic infraction. State v. Young,
45 Fla. Supp. 126 (Fla. 4th Cir.Ct. 1977). Section
316.645 provides: A police officer who makes an investigation at the scene of a traffic accident may arrest any driver of a vehicle involved in the accident when, based upon personal investigation, the officer has reasonable and probable grou...
...s an infraction as defined in Section
318.13(3). An infraction is "a noncriminal violation which is not punishable by incarceration and for which there is no right to a trial by jury or a right to court appointed counsel." Appellant argues that when Section
316.645 and Chapter 318 are construed in pari materia, the term "offense" in
316.645 must be limited to the criminal offenses listed in Sections
316.655(4) and
318.17, and since Sheffield's arrest was for a noncriminal infraction, not a criminal offense, it cannot be justified under Section
316.645 or any other statutory provision, therefore any arrest of Sheffield was illegal and any subsequent consent to accompany her upstairs was invalid....
...accompany her upstairs. In addition to the foregoing, we note that the officer investigating a traffic accident has a duty to expeditiously complete and file written accident reports in many cases, Section
316.066(3)(a) Florida Statutes. Construing Section
316.645 in light of chapter 318, an officer may not have authority to formally arrest an individual in the fullest sense and hold them for interrogation or until bail is authorized....
...The officers' intrusion into appellant's second floor bedroom was neither reasonable nor necessary to accomplish their mission, if indeed, as the majority finds, it was simply to secure Sheffield's assistance in filling out accident reports, and to issue a traffic citation to her. [1] It seems clear to me that Section 316.645, Florida Statutes, which Sheffield is alleged to have violated, does not give an officer arrest authority except at the accident scene. The text of the statute is quoted in the majority opinion. However, the majority has overlooked the section heading, which reads: "316.645....
...estee, to enter his dormitory room where arrestee had been followed to go to secure identification papers, without necessity of exigent circumstances. [2] Originally enacted as Section 316.07, Chapter 71-135, Section One, Laws of Florida (1971). [3] Section
316.645, when considered in connection with the section heading quoted above, discloses an intention to effect only a narrowly circumscribed expansion of warrantless arrest rights under Section
901.15, subsections (1) and (5), which provide,...
