VI: Govt couldn’t rely on inventory to justify search when the vehicle wasn’t impounded

Officer’s knowledge that defendant possessed a firearm was not reasonable suspicion in itself because one could possess a firearm in the VI, albeit with a license. When officers observed bullet holes in the car and defendant was nervous and evasive, there was reasonable suspicion. The search of defendant’s vehicle, however, was unreasonable for lack of exigency. Defendant as in the back of a police car. The government tried to justify the search as an inventory, but the vehicle was not taken into custody for there to be an inventory. People v. Freeman, 2018 V.I. LEXIS 15 (Super. Ct. Feb. 7, 2018).