D.Utah: Vehicle impoundment and inventory was reasonable; officer didn’t have to leave it parked where it was

Defendant was sleeping in his SUV behind a business. In the SUV were his dog and a lot of his stuff. He gave a false name to the officers then ID’d himself. They found an outstanding felony warrant on him and arrested him. The impoundment was proper under police department policy because the owner of the property where it was parked already complained about its presence so it shouldn’t have been left there. “It was reasonable for the officers not to follow up on the defendant’s request to contact a third party. In light of the fact that defendant was living in this car in the back of a building where he had no permission to be, it would seem unlikely to the officers that defendant would have someone who would be willing to take all this property. [¶] Balancing the interests of the landowner and of Mr. Walton and his property, the impoundment was justified.” United States v. Walton, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41380 (D. Utah March 25, 2014).*

Police and EMS responded to a stabbing call and found the door open. They followed a blood trail upstairs. They knocked on a bedroom door and talked to people inside who knew nothing of the stabbing. In plain view were drugs and paraphernalia. Defendant was a guest sleeping on a mattress downstairs, and that was the extent of his standing, around the mattress at best. However, the entry was lawful under the emergency aid exception. United States v. Plaines, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39963 (N.D. W.Va. March 5, 2014).*