MA: A computer check during a traffic stop would dispel any RS, and failure to do so was unreasonable

Defendant’s car had an inspection rejection sticker for safety defects, but state law grants a 60 day grace period for correction. A computer check would have answered any questions. “Accordingly, we conclude that whether the troopers’ suspicion was reasonable in this case depended on all of the information reasonably available to them through the MDT in the cruiser before the stop, including information about the vehicle’s registration and inspection status. To the extent that the troopers overlooked information that was reasonably available to them and which would have dispelled their initial suspicion that the car was being operated unlawfully, they acted unreasonably.” Commonwealth v. Jones, 2022 Mass. App. LEXIS 2 (Jan. 7, 2022).

Defendant’s stop and arrest was with probable cause for ignoring an officer’s directions to not pass his blocking the road and then running into the patrol car. Whether the automobile exception applied or not, inevitable discovery would apply because defendant’s car was going to be towed and inventoried, so the evidence would have been found anyway. United States v. Gilbert-Brown, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 467 (3d Cir. Jan. 7, 2022).*

Inevitable discovery applies because the officers found a warrant for defendant, and his car was subject to removal and inventory because of his arrest. United States v. Phan, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 503 (9th Cir. Jan. 7, 2022).*

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