Could Sheriff Evie Barret commandeer a pick-up truck in the Stan Against Evil episode “Know, Know, Know, Your Goat”?
The current laws of New Hampshire do not specifically address police commandeering private vehicles. However, the state had allowed for it in the past. In a New Hampshire Supreme Court case, the Court discussed statutory authority for police vehicles, ambulances, and “private cars, when commandeered for use by the police,” were exempted from speed limits. See, Vandell v. Sanders, 155 A. 193, 194-95 (N.H. 1931), citing P. L., c. 103, s. 18.
New Hampshire law speaks to police powers and “vehicles when driven with due regard for safety under the direction of the peace officers in the chase or apprehension of violators of the law or of persons charged with or suspected of any such violation…” N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 265:61.
Sheriff Barret did drive the commandeered pick-up with due regard of safety in order to apprehend suspected violators of the law. In this case, that suspected violator was a demon goat. There is a high likelihood that the mayor of Willard’s Mill would respond to demonic goats the same way that Mayor Larry Vaughn did to shark attacks in Jaws. There would be denial, ridicule, followed by a massive lawsuit by anyone who lost a loved one to demonic forces.