NJ: Opening a car door is a search

Opening a car door is a search. State v. Gray, 2022 N.J. Super. LEXIS 144 (Dec. 20, 2022).

“In sum, the Court finds it is clear that Officer Spain’s purpose in opening Defendant’s door and asking him to step out of the vehicle were efforts to protect the welfare of the vehicle’s occupant — the Defendant. As such, Officer Spain’s actions to remove Defendant from the vehicle he was found unresponsive in were totally permissible pursuant to Officer Spain acting in a community caretaking capacity.” United States v. Hinnard, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 228658 (E.D. Tenn. Dec. 20, 2022).*

The smell of marijuana coming from inside defendant’s house (which had happened before) where the police knew there were two minors and that defendant allowed minors to ingest marijuana was exigency for this entry. State v. Sturgill, 2022-Ohio-4574, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 4278 (5th Dist. Dec. 16, 2022).*

This entry was posted in Emergency / exigency, Search. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.