PA: Impoundment of car on mistake of law makes inventory invalid

Defendant was stopped and had a suspended license. The officer believed that required a towing of the vehicle and an inventory. The state supreme court concludes otherwise, and the need to tow, and thus inventory, was essentially a mistake of law. “Impounding” the vehicle would have been accomplished by leaving it on the side of the road where it was not impeding traffic. The officer otherwise was acting in good faith and complied with the inventory policy, but that’s not relevant. Commonwealth v. Lagenella, 83 A.3d 94 (Pa. 2013), rev’g 2011 PA Super 68, 17 A.3d 1257 (2011) (concurrence; dissent):

During direct examination at the suppression hearing, Corporal Wealand offered no testimony indicating that Appellant’s vehicle posed an issue of public safety. Indeed, when defense counsel asked Corporal Wealand whether Appellant’s vehicle was disabled or damaged when it came to rest two feet from the curb, Corporal Wealand indicated that it was not. N.T. Suppression Hearing, 9/22/09, at 15. When questioned further, Corporal Wealand stated that there was no broken glass around the vehicle, and that the parked vehicle was not impeding the flow of traffic in any manner. Id. at 15-16. Finally, Corporal Wealand testified that there were no items of value in plain view in the vehicle. Id. at 16. Accordingly, based on our review of the record, the Commonwealth failed to introduce any evidence that Corporal Wealand’s decision to tow Appellant’s vehicle was based on public safety. Thus, under Section 6309.2(a)(1) and its own decision in Thompson, the Superior Court’s holding that Corporal Wealand engaged in a proper inventory search of Appellant’s vehicle was erroneous.

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Accordingly, we reject the Commonwealth’s position that an inventory search is justified upon immobilization of a vehicle, and hold that a warrantless inventory search of a vehicle is permissible only when the police have lawfully towed and stored, or impounded the vehicle. To the extent Thompson holds otherwise, that decision is disapproved. As Corporal Wealand’s towing of Appellant’s vehicle was unlawful, so was his inventory search of Appellant’s vehicle.

We do not suggest that Corporal Wealand commenced the inventory search of Appellant’s vehicle in bad faith, or with an investigatory motive. Corporal Wealand advised Appellant, albeit erroneously based on the record before us, that he was required to tow Appellant’s car because Appellant’s license was suspended. Corporal Wealand informed Appellant that he was required to perform an inventory search before he began the search, and thus before he discovered the drug residue in the eyeglass case. Upon discovering the drug residue in the eyeglass case, the officer testified that he continued the inventory search in accordance with the standard policy for inventorying the contents of a vehicle that was going to be towed. Nevertheless, because there was no basis for Corporal Wealand to tow Appellant’s vehicle in the first instance, the inventory search of Appellant’s vehicle was improper, and the fact that Corporal Wealand performed the vehicle inventory search in accordance with a standard inventory policy is immaterial.