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Searching plaintiff's car under "community caretaking function" could not be justified; it was in his own driveway

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Plaintiff stated a claim for removal of property from his car which was parked on his own property and not subject to impoundment. Gombert v. Lynch, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24178 (D. Conn. March 27, 2008)*: In this case, instead of impounding (or otherwise taking custody of) the Plaintiff's car, the police took items out of his car, purportedly pursuant to their community caretaking responsibilities. The court can find no law, however, to support the proposition that, under the banner of "community caretaking," the police can search and seize items from a vehicle that was not itself already under police custody or control via the police's community caretaking function. Defense counsel's failure to cross-examine police officers from state suppression hearing record would not have changed the outcome of the federal suppression hearing so it could not be ineffective assistance...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 29, 2008 (boomark / email).