PA Superior Court: Police Properly Conducted Inventory Search of Vehicle Where Unlicensed Driver Parked at Gas Pump During Stop

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has decided the case of Commonwealth v. Peak, holding that police properly conducted an inventory search of a car which had to be towed because the driver had parked at a gas pump and did not have a valid driver’s license. 

Zak Goldstein - Criminal Lawyer in Philadelphia

The Facts of Peak

In Peak, the defendant was charged with Possession with the Intent to Deliver following a traffic stop. On March 3, 2017, a police officer was on routine patrol in a marked police car. While he was driving, he saw a Buick Sedan out in the intersection that seemed to be confused about whether it was turning left or right. The car had no turn signal and eventually turned left. The officer made a U-turn to conduct a traffic stop. Before he could, the car pulled up to a gas pump at a local convenience store near the intersection. The officer pulled behind the Buick and ordered the driver of the Buick to remain in the car. 

The officer approached the defendant and asked for his license and insurance. He immediately smelled an odor of burnt marijuana. Nonetheless, he ran the defendant’s license and learned that the defendant’s driver’s license had been suspended. He then told the defendant to get out of the car and grab any of his belongings. He asked to whom the car belonged, and the defendant replied that it belonged to his sister. The officer told the defendant that he would have to have the car towed, and the defendant did not make any objections to the officer. He also told the defendant that he was not planning on arresting him but would send citations in the mail. 

The Inventory Search of the Car

The officer then called a private tow company and began conducting an inventory search of the defendant’s car. He felt that it was necessary to tow the car because it was not in a legal parking spot but was instead parked directly in front of an operable gas pump. This was impeding the business’s ability to sell gas as normal. He felt that it was important to conduct an inventory search to document any valuables in the vehicle and protect the police from any claims concerning missing or damaged property. The defendant did tell the officer that he was trying to get someone to come get the car, and the defendant did begin making phone calls. Nonetheless, the tow truck arrived within ten minutes. 

Prior to the tow truck taking the car, the officer conducted the inventory search and found bundles of heroin in the car. He then arrested the defendant, searched him, and found $1,700. Prosecutors charged the defendant with Possession with the Intent to Deliver based on the amount of the heroin. 

The trial court denied the motion to suppress, found the defendant guilty of PWID, and sentenced him to three to six years’ incarceration followed by a period of probation. The defendant eventually appealed to the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court’s Ruling on Appeal

The Superior Court denied the appeal. First, the court found that the defendant did have standing to bring a motion to suppress and that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the vehicle despite the fact that he did not own it. He had borrowed it with his sister’s permission and had been legally driving it at the time of the stop. Therefore, he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the car despite the fact that he was not the registered owner. He had also testified that although it was not registered to him, he had purchased it himself with his own money and then put it in his sister’s name. 

What is an inventory search? 

Nonetheless, court denied the motion because it found that the police properly conducted an inventory search of the vehicle. Under Section 6309.2 of the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code, police officers are directed to immobilize or tow a vehicle when they find that a person has operated that vehicle on a highway or trafficway without a valid driver’s license. When the police have to tow a vehicle, they are permitted to conduct an inventory search of the vehicle. An inventory search is permissible when 1) the police have acted lawfully in impounding the vehicle and 2) the police have acted in accordance with a reasonable, standard policy of routinely securing and inventorying the contents of the impounded vehicle. 

The critical question when litigating these types of motions is whether or not the police actually had to tow the vehicle. In general, if the police can just leave the vehicle on the street in a lawful parking spot or allow someone else to come get it, then they do not necessarily have the authority to tow it and conduct an inventory search. At the same time, if the vehicle is jeopardizing public safety in some way or has not been parked legally, then the police may have the authority to tow the vehicle. If they have that authority, then they are allowed to first search the car even without a warrant.

The decision to tow the vehicle must be based on public safety; it cannot be motivated by a desire to search the car on a hunch. Thus, in Commonwealth v. Laganella, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court found that evidence should be suppressed where the police had no reason to tow a car from a lawful parking spot. Here, however, the car was parked blocking a gas pump, preventing customers from getting gas. The owner did not want his pump blocked, and there was no one else there to drive the vehicle away immediately. The fact that someone might have been able to come at some point in the future did not change the analysis. Therefore, the Superior Court found that the police properly towed the vehicle and therefore had the right to conduct an inventory search. Accordingly, the Superior Court denied the criminal appeal. 

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