Defining the community caretaking function

In Cady v. Dombrowski (1973), the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a warrantless search for a weapon in a wrecked car driven by a police officer who had been taken to the hospital, even though the police lacked probable cause to believe there was a weapon in the car. In so ruling, the Supreme Court seemed to establish an exception to the warrant requirement that has been referred to as the community caretaking function. This paper examines lower court treatment of the community caretaking function and proposes a clearer statement of the contours of this exception to the warrant requirement.