CA8: Fleeing from a car during a traffic stop and leaving a backpack behind is objectively an abandonment

Fleeing from a car during a traffic stop and leaving a backpack behind is objectively an abandonment. The fact it’s a semi-private place isn’t determinative here. United States v. Nowak, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 10956 (8th Cir. June 17, 2016):

Nowak did not deny ownership of the backpack but he physically relinquished it when he fled the scene of the traffic stop, leaving the backpack behind in the car. Nowak attempts to neutralize his flight by arguing that because he did not leave the backpack in a public place, he did not abandon it. Nowak cites to Basinski in support of his argument that property left in a private, as opposed to a public, place has not been abandoned. But in Basinski, the owner of a briefcase gave it to his friend for safekeeping and then explicitly instructed the friend to destroy it. Basinski, 226 F.3d at 832, 837-38. Nowak left his backpack in Madsen’s car, but unlike Basinski, he did nothing to “demonstrate[] a strong desire to preserve both his possessory and privacy interests.” Basinski, 226 F.3d at 837.

. . .

In this case, there is simply no evidence that Nowak gave any indication — verbal or otherwise — that he intended for Madsen (or anyone else) to take care or possession of the backpack in his absence such that his personal belongings would remain private. Nor do the circumstances lend themselves to such a conclusion. Instead, the evidence in this case showed the contrary: When expressly directed by a law enforcement officer to remain in the car, Nowak got out of the car, ran from the scene, and left his belongings behind. The objective facts available to the officers support the finding that Nowak abandoned his backpack.

Whether property is discarded in a public, private, or semi-private place is a factor in considering whether the property has been abandoned, but it is not dispositive. See Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351-52 (1967) (“What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. … But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected” (citations omitted)). Based on the evidence presented, the district court did not err in concluding that Nowak abandoned his backpack and relinquished any reasonable expectation of privacy in it.