CA6: After defendant’s arrest on outstanding warrants, his car was lawfully impounded because it could not be left on side of city street

Defendant was stopped for no seatbelt and a cracked windshield, and the officer ran his DL finding two child support warrants. The impoundment was valid because the vehicle would have to have been left on the street, constituting a road hazard. Also, the claim it wasn’t stated properly in the police reports was raised on appeal but not raised before the District Judge in review of the USMJ’s R&R, so it is waived. United States v. Lilly, 438 Fed. Appx. 439 (6th Cir. 2011).*

Defendant’s clothing was properly seized incident to his arrest. He was found unconscious in the same apartment where there was a body in the bathtub, and he was covered with blood. A presumptively reliable citizen informant said that defendant said that he’d killed the victim. That was probable cause. State v. Minton, 2011 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 688 (September 1, 2011).*

Plaintiffs were anti-abortion advocates who were arrested for trespass, but the charges were dismissed. The officers were entitled to qualified immunity from suit; they thought the plaintiffs were trespassing at the time of arrest, but it proved to be legally wrong. Skovgard v. Pedro, 448 Fed. Appx. 538 (6th Cir. 2011) (unpublished).*

The officer entered the plaintiffs’ house with exigent circumstances; after seeing methamphetamine paraphernalia, he said he was detaining everybody while a search warrant was obtained. A minor entered a separate residence in the premises, and he went there, too. There was a factual dispute denying qualified immunity as to the later entry. Modrell v. Hayden, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 18355 (6th Cir. August 30, 2011) (unpublished).*