Request By:
Mr. Ted Schiess
Deputy Sheriff, Logan County
Russellville, Kentucky
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; Raymond Larson, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter requesting an opinion concerning the following question:
"May a peace officer in hot pursuit of a person in Kentucky pursue this person across the state line and into another state and if he can do so what would be the legal procedure after the officer catches the person in the other state?"
As a general rule, a peace officer can make an arrest only within the state from which his authority is derived and a state cannot, by legislation, extend the power of its officers beyond the boundaries of the state. Therefore, a Kentucky peace officer cannot make an arrest in another state for an offense committed in Kentucky except when authorized to do so by the laws of the latter state. Since several states have enacted laws which authorize arrests made by an out of state officer who enters the jurisdiction in fresh pursuit of a suspected felon, it is necessary to look to the law of the state into which the person is pursued to determine whether an out of state peace officer can make a valid arrest there.
Judging from the location of Logan County, it is assumed that your concern is whether you can pursue a person across the Kentucky state line into Tennessee and validly arrest him there. This requires an inquiry into Tennessee law. Tennessee has enacted a Uniform Law on Fresh Pursuit (Tenn. Code Annotated S. 40-809 40-815) which gives power to officers from other states to make arrests in Tennessee. Section 40-812 of this law provides:
Any member of a duly organized state, county or municipal peace unit of another state of the United States, who enters this state in fresh pursuit, and continues within this state in such fresh pursuit, of a person in order to arrest him on ground that he is believed to have committed a felony in such other state, shall have the same authority to arrest and hold such person in custody, as has any member of any duly organized state, county, or municipal peace unit of this state, to arrest and hold in custody a person on the ground that he is believed to have committed a felony in this state. (Emphasis added).
As used in this law, the term fresh pursuit "shall not necessarily imply instant pursuit, but pursuit without unreasonable delay." Tenn. Code Annotated S. 40-811.
Once an arrest has been made in Tennessee by a Kentucky peace officer, Tennessee law directs the arresting officer to take the person arrested "before a magistrate and/or court of general sessions, or general sessions court" in the county where the arrest was made for the purpose of determining whether the arrest was lawful. If it is determined that the arrest was lawful, the magistrate and/or court of general sessions court shall commit the person arrested to await for a reasonable time the issuance of an extradition warrant by the governor of this state, or admit him to bail for such purpose." Tenn. Code Annotated S. 40-814.
Therefore, a Kentucky peace officer can make an arrest in Tennessee if the officer has entered Tennessee in fresh pursuit and the person being pursued is reasonably suspected of having committed a felony. The proper procedure following the arrest is to take the person arrested before a judicial officer in the county in which the arrest was made for a determination of the validity of the arrest.