State v. RobersonState v. Roberson
This case raises questions concerning the legality of the seizure of a motor vehicle following the owner‘s arrest for motor vehicle code violations, and the permissible scope of the police inventory search following
At noon on May 19, 1975 Detective DeMarco and Officer Ferrara of the Newark Police Department stopped a 1964 Buick operated by defendant at 15th Avenue and South 10th Street in the City of Newark. DeMarco had arrested defendant one month before for driving without insurance, in violation of
In response to the officers’ request, defendant produced a driver‘s license and registration, but did not produce an insurance identification card as required by the statute. Based on the two violations, no insurance card and driving while suspended, defendant was placed under arrest, put in the squad car and driven to police headquarters. One of the officers drove defendant‘s car to headquarters. At headquarters defendant claimed to have valid liability insurance, but the officers’ check with his alleged carrier revealed this claim to be untrue. Defendant was then booked for operating a vehicle without insurance and while on the suspended list. Following the booking the officers conducted a standard inventory search of the vehicle before towing it to the impound site. During the inventory search the police discovered a key to the locked trunk in an ashtray in the car. The inventory search of the trunk revealed five tires and an attache case. These items were later traced to a vehicle which had been stolen, stripped and abandoned in Newark the day before. Defendant was convicted of possession of the stolen tires and
Defendant attacks the validity of the search of the trunk and the seizure of the stolen property on several grounds. He first contends the police should not have arrested him but should have merely issued a traffic summons pursuant to
The officers possessed the statutory authority to arrest defendant without a warrant pursuant to
Any * * * police officer * * * may, without a warrant, arrest any person violating in his presence any provision of chapter three of this Title * * *
The officers observed defendant violating two provisions of Chapter 3 of Title 39, failing to have an insurance card in his possession, in violation of
In cases involving violations of statutes or ordinances relating to the operation or use of motor vehicles, * * *, the complaint and summons shall be a uniform traffic ticket in the form prescribed by the Administrative Director of the Courts.
compels the arresting officer to issue a summons and does not permit an arrest to be made. While in most traffic violations the police should and normally do proceed by
Standard police inventory searches following impoundment of vehicles received constitutional sanction in South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976). There the police towed a locked vehicle from the public street because of violations of municipal parking ordinances. During the routine inventory conducted prior to storage the police found drugs in the unlocked glove compartment. Chief Justice Burger stated in the majority opinion upholding the constitutionality of the search: “The authority of the police to seize and remove from the streets vehicles impeding traffic or threatening public safety and convenience is beyond challenge.” 428 U.S. at 369, 96 S.Ct. at 3096, 49 L.Ed.2d at 1005. The conduct of an inventory of the vehicle during this “caretaking function” by the police was said to have a three-fold justification: (1) the protection of the owner‘s property while in police custody; (2) the
Since the Opperman case this court has considered the validity of inventory searches following impoundment of a vehicle in State v. Slockbower, 145 N.J. Super. 480 (App. Div. 1976), motion for leave to appeal granted, 74 N.J. 255 (1977), where a divided court upheld a search following defendant‘s arrest on an outstanding traffic warrant. See also, State v. Parker, 153 N.J. Super. 481 (App. Div. 1977). In Slockbower the defendant was arrested while driving on a city street, by officers who were aware of an outstanding warrant issued for driving while on the revoked list. The inventory search was conducted at the scene of arrest and revealed a loaded pistol in the unlocked glove compartment. The police had no express statutory authority to impound the car in Slockbower, nor did they have such power in the present case. However, as this court noted in Slockbower, the police are not “circumscribed by express statutory authority to impound motor vehicles.” 145 N.J. Super. at 485. “The inherent power of the police to impound motor vehicles may arise in a myriad of factual situations too numerous to attempt to define.” Id. We hold the factual situation before us to be within such inherent power.
We can only conclude that the police acted reasonably in this situation. If they simply issued a summons, defendant could have driven away in his uninsured vehicle, a continuing threat to the public. If they decided to arrest defendant but to park the vehicle on the streets of Newark, defendant would have undoubtedly arranged for a friend to drive the uninsured vehicle away, posing the same threat to innocent pedestrians and motorists. Also, as we noted in Slockbower, it was not unreasonable for the police to impound the car rather than leave it unattended on city streets “with all the attendant risks of vandalism, theft or unfounded charges against them for doing so.” 145 N.J. Super. at 486. There is no proof in the record that the passenger in defendant‘s
Defendant finally contends that the search of the locked trunk was beyond the scope of reasonableness. We do not agree. The scope and intensity of a search is dictated by the surrounding circumstances. This court has recently held that probable cause for a visual search of the interior of a vehicle does not justify interfering with the structural integrity of the vehicle. The “scope and intensity must not be disproportionate to the circumstances giving rise to” the search. State v. Murray, 151 N.J. Super. 300, 307 (App. Div. 1977).
Given the three-fold purpose of the inventory search discussed supra, we do not find the search of the locked trunk excessive in this case. The trunk may readily contain property of the owner requiring protection. The police are just as exposed to claims of lost or stolen property from the trunk as from any other part of the car. The trunk is as likely to contain dangerous articles as the glove compartment or the areas under the seat or the hood. Additionally, the key to the trunk was found in an unsecured location, and the police did not have to break open the trunk. Nor is there any suggestion that the inventory procedure “was a pretext concealing an investigatory police motive.” South Dakota v. Opperman, supra, 428 U.S. at 379, 96 S.Ct. at 3100, 49 L.Ed.2d at 1009.
Several recent federal appellate cases agree with the position we take here. In United States v. Martin, 566 F.2d 1143 (10 Cir. 1977), defendant was found noticeably drunk while in his parked car during the middle of the night. He was arrested for violation of a Tulsa municipal ordinance prohibiting public drunkenness. The arresting officers decided that he was in no condition to operate his vehicle and that the car should be towed to the garage. The United States
In Cabbler v. Superintendent, Virginia State Penitentiary, 528 F.2d 1142 (4 Cir. 1975), cert. den., 429 U.S. 817, 97 S.Ct. 60, 50 L.Ed.2d 77 (1976), defendant was arrested in a hospital emergency room following a shooting episode. He had left his car parked in a driveway leading to the emergency room. The police took defendant‘s car keys away upon arrest and removed his car from the driveway, where it was a traffic nuisance. After impoundment the police unlocked the trunk and removed numerous items of personalty. These items were stolen and were the basis for the conviction from which defendant sought federal habeas relief. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals found this routine inventory search, which included the locked trunk area, “reasonable as a sound police practice to protect both the owner from loss and the city from damage claims.” Id. at 1147. We also note that the majority opinion of the United States Supreme Court in South Dakota v. Opperman, supra, 428 U.S. at 368, 96 S.Ct. at 3096, 49 L.Ed.2d at 1005, cites with approval the opinion of the Virginia Supreme Court upholding the direct attack by the petitioner on the search and seizure in Cabbler v. Superintendent, Virginia State Penitentiary, supra.1
Defendant relies on United States v. Lawson, 487 F.2d 468 (8 Cir. 1973). There defendants were arrested for passing bad checks. At the time of arrest their car was parked in
We conclude that the Newark policemen properly arrested defendant for driving without insurance while his license was suspended and were justified, under all of the circumstances, in impounding the vehicle. The inventory search of the trunk following the seizure was also justified. The conviction is affirmed.
Affirmed.