E.D.Mo.: A vehicle inventory is not invalid because it is discretionary

Defendant had standing in his girlfriend’s car. His stuff was throughout it, and he drove it some. An inventory is not invalid because the decision to inventory or not is discretionary. United States v. Gilmore, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 156240 (E.D.Mo. Oct. 21, 2016), adopted, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155404 (E.D. Mo. Nov. 9, 2016):

Sgt. Juengst and Officer Duke may have had discretion under the police department policy to leave the Mustang with defendant Gilmore, but they were not required to do so. Towing the vehicle was within the discretional boundaries of the department’s policy after its owner had been arrested. Further, “[n]othing in the Fourth Amendment requires a police department to allow an arrested person to arrange for another person to pick up his car to avoid impoundment and inventory.” United States v. Arrocha, 713 F.3d 1159, 1164 (8th Cir. 2013) (citation omitted). The police lawfully exercised their community caretaker function in towing the car, at least in part because it was uninsured and should not be operated in that condition; it had an insecure rear window; it had a damaged cloth roof; and it was in a private gas station parking lot that was open to the public. It was reasonable not to leave the Mustang alone in these circumstances. Accordingly, the decision to tow the vehicle to the police station was a reasonable application of the police department’s standardized procedures.

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