August 28, 2010: Question do SLEC's have authority off reservation
Here, Sergeant Tanakeyowma was not enforcing federal or tribal law at the time of
the incident. He pursued Sanford outside the boundaries of the Gila River Indian
Reservation after he observed Sanford’s erratic driving, which, as explained above, was
no more than a violation of Arizona law. There is no evidence that Sergeant
Tanakeyowma’s SLEC authorized him to enforce Arizona law, on or off Indian lands,
and therefore no indication that he is deemed a federal employee for purposes of the
FTCA while enforcing Arizona law. See Hebert, 438 F.3d at 487 (because tribal officers
were not enforcing federal law, they were not acting “in accordance with any special
commission to assist the Bureau of Indian Affairs with providing law enforcement
services”).
order-dismissing-shirk-08-27-10.pdf — PDF document, 45 KB (47038 bytes)
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