Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Oregon

A police officer stopped my 18 year old daughter and her friend in the lobby of a hotel as she was on her way out. He asked them what they were doing there and they told him they had just stopped by to see a friend. The police officer had been called to the hotel to look into a party that was going on in one of the rooms. The officer asked them for the room number of the room they had visited and they weren't sure of the number but told him the floor. The officer then forced them to go with him up to the room he had been called to check into. In the course of breaking the party up he asked everyone there if my daughter and her friend were there and they all told him no they hadn't been there. He didn't believe any of the 15 or so people and continued to interrogate my daughter and her friend. He would not let them go yet he never placed them under arrest. My daughter was not drunk, and had not been drinking. It was New Years Eve (actually New Years morning by this time) At the strike of midnight a few hours earlier my daughter had a sip of champaign as a toast to the New Year while with me in our home. After the officer had detained and badgered her and her friend for an hour with out arresting her she finally admitted to having come from that room. She had stopped by to see a friend and could see trouble so immediately left which is why no one remembered her being there. She also admitted to having had a sip of champagne way earlier with her parents to toast the New Year in. My questions are....... 1) Did the officer have a legal right to force them to go with him back up to the room and detain them with out arresting them and with out any reason to suspect them of any wrong doing since they were in the lobby leaving and were not intoxicated or was this a violation of their rights? 2) Since he did not arrest them and therefore did not read them their rights can anything they said to him as a result of his interrogation be used against them? 3) Is it legal for an 18 year old minor to consume alcohol in the privacy of her home or the home she shares with her parents? The geographic location at which this happened was Oregon, USA 97146.


Asked on 1/02/10, 1:13 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Daniel Meek Daniel W. Meek

You may well have a valid claim against the police for false arrest (which does not require actual arrrest). I do not handle this sort of case, but the lawyers at Kafoury & McDougal have completed numerous cases against the police for misconduct toward innocent persons. 503-224-2647 or [email protected].

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Answered on 1/07/10, 2:53 pm


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