UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, │ Plaintiff-Appellee, │ > No. 22-1445 │ v. │ │ JARON HOWARD MORGAN, │ Defendant-Appellant. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids. No. 1:21-cr-00061-1—Paul Lewis Maloney, District Judge.

Decided and Filed: June 26, 2023

Before: SUTTON, Chief Judge; BATCHELDER and STRANCH, Circuit Judges. _________________

COUNSEL ON BRIEF: Scott Graham, SCOTT GRAHAM PLLC, Portage, Michigan, for Appellant. Erin K. Lane, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellee. _________________

OPINION _________________

SUTTON, Chief Judge. Early on a February morning in Lansing, Michigan, an officer noticed a man, later determined to be Jaron Morgan, seemingly passed out at the wheel of a stopped, still running, car. Without knocking on the car door, shining a flashlight into the car, or otherwise trying to arouse Morgan, the officer opened the car door and asked Morgan whether everything was okay. Morgan was groggy, and the officer asked for his identification. An altercation ensued. The officer arrested Morgan and found a firearm in the car and drugs on him, No. 22-1445 United States v. Morgan Page 2

prompting a criminal indictment. The district court denied Morgan’s motion to suppress under the Fourth Amendment based on the community-caretaking doctrine, Morgan conditionally pleaded guilty, and the court sentenced him to 204 months. We reverse the district court’s denial of the motion to suppress.

I.

After a nighttime blizzard, Officer James Zolnai received an early morning dispatch call in February 2021. A Northeast Lansing civilian located at the dead end of Leslie Street needed help getting his car out of a snowbank. As Officer Zolnai made his way down the street, he passed a parked and running Chevy Malibu around 5:00 a.m. The driver, Jaron Morgan, “appeared to be passed out” with his head tilted back. R.63 at 7.

After Officer Zolnai assisted the civilian with the snow-encumbered car, he made a U- turn back down Leslie Street, and again noticed the seemingly passed-out occupant in the Malibu 11 minutes later. Suspecting that an overdose or intoxication had incapacitated Morgan, Officer Zolnai decided to check on him. Officer Zolnai parked about 15 feet away, turned on his body camera, did not turn on the police car’s flashing lights, and told the police dispatch what he was doing.

As Officer Zolnai walked towards the Malibu, he noticed that the civilian he had just assisted stood nearby, potentially in the path of the vehicle. In his experience, intoxicated individuals or those on opiates might “hit the gas” if startled. Id. at 13. Without first trying to arouse Morgan by knocking on the door or shining a light in the car, Officer Zolnai opened the car door. He asked if Morgan was okay. Morgan responded in a “groggy” way. Id.