# Dunn v. McFeeley

> New Mexico Court of Appeals · April 28, 1999 · 127 N.M. 513

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9793133

## Case

- **Full name:** Paul DUNN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Patricia McFEELEY, M.D., State of New Mexico, Office of the Medical Investigator, Larry Warehime, State of New Mexico, Department of Public Safety, State Crime Laboratory, Noe Galvan, and the New Mexico State Police, Defendants-Appellees
- **Court:** New Mexico Court of Appeals
- **Decided:** April 28, 1999
- **Citations:** 127 N.M. 513; 984 P.2d 760; 1999 NMCA 084
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Bustamante
- **Judges:** Hartz, Donnelly, Bustamante
- **Cited by:** 36 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9793133

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- stating the same and adding that “maintaining public order should be understood as encompassing only duties traditionally performed by law enforcement officers.” (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)
- holding that medical investigator and crime laboratory technician are not “law enforcement officers”
- observing that the “Agency Defendants” in that case, including the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator, did “not come within the definition of ‘law enforcement officer’ because an agency could not be a ‘full- time salaried public employee’”

## Opinion text

BUSTAMANTE, Judge (concurring).
{28} I concur in Judge Hartz’ opinion. I write separately because I am concerned that our case law interpreting Section 41-4-3(B) has unduly narrowed the concept of law enforcement under the Tort Claims Act. Our case law reflects an outdated model of the law enforcement officer as the “cop on the beat.” See Coyazo v. State, 120 N.M. 47, 49 , 897 P.2d 234, 237 (Ct.App.1995). Focussing too narrowly on the activities of commissioned officers on the street creates the risk of missing a large portion of the law enforcement function today. The business of solving and proving crime is increasingly a technical pursuit. Mrs. Dunn’s death is a case in point. The decision to arrest and prosecute had little to do with the activities one normally imagines with pursuit and arrest on the street. Rather, it turned largely on the result of a scientific evaluation of technical aspects of the body and the death scene. If a technical investigation is handled recklessly — or is wantonly perverted — an improper prosecution can ensue as surely as if an officer on the street chooses to arrest and prosecute without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. There is no reason why the concept of “law enforcement officer” under the Tort Claims Act should not reach the technical, investigatory side of the law enforcement house.

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9793133. Public record. Not legal advice.