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"School search" of student's house for knife was not justified by apparent authority

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

A student accidently brought a utility knife to school that had been left in his book bag. When the school administrators later found out about it, they took him home to recover it. The parents and student sued over the search of the house, which could not be entered on alleged consent of the student. D'Allesandro v. Brumbaugh, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 84914 (N.D. Ill. October 22, 2008) However, such considerations are not pertinent in light of the unique facts in the instant action. None of the cases cited by Defendants involved a situation where the purported consenting party was a minor under the supervision and control of a government official. The undisputed record indicates that it was not Tyler that took Brumbaugh to the Residence to retrieve the Knife, but it was Brumbaugh who placed Tyler in his car and drove him to the Residence in order to retrieve the Knife, and during all this time, Tyler was "under defendant Brumbaugh's supervision and control...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on October 25, 2008 (boomark / email).