FL3: Taking a dog’s dead body to a vet for disposal is an abandonment

Defendant took an injured puppy to a veterinarian for treatment, and then he took it home. Later, the animal died, and he took it back to the vet for a group cremation of the remains. The vet did a necropsy on the animal and discovered a broke spinal cord and blood on the brain. Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the animal after he left it for cremation. State v. Milewski, 2016 Fla. App. LEXIS 701 (Fla. 3d DCA Jan. 20, 2016).

Defendant’s reasonable suspicion argument overlooks the collective knowledge doctrine. There was. The officer could order the occupants out of the car, and the reasonable suspicion permitted a detention until the drug dog completed its work. United States v. Richardson, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5861 (D.N.J. Jan. 19, 2016).*