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CA8: Failure to do a complete inventory showed investigatory purpose

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officer’s utter failure to really do a complete inventory showed that the search was investigatory and not a valid inventory. The motion to suppress should have been granted. United States v. Taylor, 10-2556 (8th Cir. February 18, 2011): Here, the police did not comply with KCPD standardized procedures. KCPD procedures not only require officers to create a detailed, itemized inventory when any vehicle is towed, they also specifically require officers to create the same inventory when a vehicle containing a large quantity of valuable items is towed. At the time of the inventory search, Taylor, a handyman, had two toolboxes that each contained over a hundred items, including pliers, wrenches, screwdrivers, and drill bits. He also had two additional toolboxes, several chains, a hydraulic jack, a crate, lug wrenches, a paint roller, a flashlight, a shingle remover, a band clamp, an electric chainsaw, and an electric circular saw, among other things...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 18, 2011 (boomark / email).