Today the Appeals Court issued a slip opinion which held that police need probable cause that a suspect is incapacitated before placing that suspect in protective custody under the Drug Rehabilitation Law (G.L. c. 111E, Sec. 9A).
In the opinion the justices write,
The primary question before us is whether the police must have reasonable suspicion or probable cause to believe that an individual is incapacitated within the meaning of G. L. c. 111E, § 9A, the Drug Rehabilitation Law before that individual may be placed in protective custody.
They conclude,
that the level of suspicion necessary for police to place an individual into protective custody under the Drug Rehabilitation Law is the same as the standard for doing so under the Alcohol Rehabilitation Law: probable cause to believe the individual is incapacitated within the meaning of the statute.
An incapacitated person
may be placed into protective custody by a police officer without the person’s consent for the purpose of immediately transporting the person to an acute care hospital or satellite emergency facility . . . or otherwise immediately obtaining appropriate emergency medical treatment.
The full text of the slip opinion is attached below.