Opinion ID: 558566
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: To the Pound.

Text: 17 The defendant argues that, even if the initial stop was constitutional, Rodriguez's subsequent detention, including his involuntary journey to the police barracks, was a de facto arrest, unsupported by probable cause, and thus improper. Building on this theme, he asserts that the unlawful arrest poisoned the well, irremediably tainting the evidence later procured. The district court believed this was so, grounding its suppression order on this construct. We think that this flawed reasoning led the court down a blind alley, which need not, and should not, have been explored. To be sure, the actions taken by the police following a justified traffic stop must be reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the [stop] in the first place. United States v. Lott, 870 F.2d 778, 784 (1st Cir.1989). But, the actions taken in this case need not be viewed as indivisible. Once the troopers pulled over defendant's car for good cause and discovered that neither he nor his passenger was properly licensed to drive it, the question of what to do with the car was a matter separate and apart from whether the defendant could or could not be arrested. Let us explicate the point. 18 The policeman plays a rather special role in our society; in addition to being an enforcer of the criminal law, he is a jack-of-all-emergencies, W. LaFave, Search and Seizure Sec. 5.4(c) (2d ed. 1987), expected to aid those in distress, combat actual hazards, prevent potential hazards from materializing, and provide an infinite variety of services to preserve and protect community safety. Recognition of this multifaceted role led to the Court's coinage of the community caretaking label in Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433, 93 S.Ct. 2523, 37 L.Ed.2d 706 (1973). The rubric is a catchall for the wide range of responsibilities that police officers must discharge aside from their criminal enforcement activities. See id. at 441, 93 S.Ct. at 2528. Dealing with vehicle-related problems ranks among such responsibilities. Because of the ubiquity of the automobile in modern American civilization, and the automobile's nature--mechanically delicate, highly mobile, safely operable only by trained and licensed individuals--the police are constantly faced with dynamic situations, no two quite identical, in which they, in the exercise of their community caretaking function, must interact with car and driver to promote public safety. Not surprisingly, our fourth amendment jurisprudence has incorporated this reality. See, e.g., id.; see also South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 368, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 3096, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976) (law officers must frequently take vehicles into police custody [i]n the interests of public safety and as part of ... [their] 'community caretaking functions' ) (quoting Cady, 413 U.S. at 441, 93 S.Ct. at 2528). 19 It is important to recognize that the community caretaking function is totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute. Cady, 413 U.S. at 441, 93 S.Ct. at 2528. Thus, as long as such caretaking activities are warranted either in terms of state law or sound police procedure, id. at 447, 93 S.Ct. at 2531, they do not offend the fourth amendment. Consequently, evidence which comes to light during the due execution of the caretaking function is ordinarily admissible at trial. See Lott, 870 F.2d at 781. Such a result is consistent with the settled rule that searches and seizures made for routine administrative purposes are deemed noninvestigatory and, therefore, outside the warrant requirement and the probable cause standard. See Colorado v. Bertine, 479 U.S. 367, 371, 107 S.Ct. 738, 740, 93 L.Ed.2d 739 (1987); Opperman, 428 U.S. at 370 n. 5, 96 S.Ct. at 3097 n. 5. The imperatives of the fourth amendment are satisfied in connection with the performance of such noninvestigatory duties, including community caretaker tasks, so long as the procedure employed (and its implementation) is reasonable. 20 In community caretaking cases, as elsewhere, reasonableness has a protean quality. The term embodies a concept, not a constant. It cannot be usefully refined in order to evolve some detailed formula for judging cases. Cady, 413 U.S. at 448, 93 S.Ct. at 2531; accord LaFrance, 879 F.2d at 6 (what is reasonable in one type of situation may not be reasonable in [an]other); cf. Sierra Club v. Secretary of the Army, 820 F.2d 513, 517 (1st Cir.1987) (defining reasonableness as a mutable cloud, which is always and never the same) (quoting and paraphrasing Ralph Waldo Emerson). In this instance, then, to find whether the removal of defendant's car from the highway to the barracks was within the troopers' community caretaking function, we are obliged to look to all the facts and circumstances of this case in light of the principles set forth in [prior] decisions. Opperman, 428 U.S. at 375, 96 S.Ct. at 3100. 21 Here, the police had a legitimate reason for stopping the car and a strong noninvestigatory justification for removing it from the highway. Upon ascertaining that neither occupant was properly licensed to drive, the decision not to let the vehicle continue on its journey was quintessentially reasonable. 2 The ensuing decision--not to leave an automobile on the shoulder of a busy interstate highway--can hardly be faulted; had the officers simply abandoned it, the Toyota not only would have posed a safety threat, but also would have been easy prey for vandals. We think that, under the circumstances, it was completely appropriate for the police to impound the car and bring it to the barracks for safekeeping. See United States v. Velarde, 903 F.2d 1163, 1166-67 (7th Cir.1990) (impoundment reasonable where neither occupant had valid license, owner not available, and car located on highway); United States v. Kornegay, 885 F.2d 713, 716 (10th Cir.1989) (impoundment reasonable where car was parked in private lot and police did not know identity of operator), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 2179, 109 L.Ed.2d 508 (1990); United States v. Brown, 787 F.2d 929, 932 (4th Cir.) (impoundment reasonable where car's occupants appeared drunk, no known sober person was available to take custody, and the car, if left unattended, could present a nuisance), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 837, 107 S.Ct. 137, 93 L.Ed.2d 80 (1986); United States v. Duncan, 763 F.2d 220, 224 (6th Cir.1985) (impoundment of vehicle reasonable after arrest of driver on public highway); United States v. Johnson, 734 F.2d 503, 505 (10th Cir.1984) (impoundment and towing reasonable where car was parked in private lot, exposed to vandalism, and owner was besotted); United States v. Griffin, 729 F.2d 475, 480 (7th Cir.) (impoundment reasonable where neither occupant of car could legally remove it from emergency lane of highway and leaving car there would present hazard and theft risk), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 830, 105 S.Ct. 117, 83 L.Ed.2d 60 (1984); United States v. Staller, 616 F.2d 1284, 1289-90 (5th Cir.) (impoundment reasonable where car legally parked in mall lot but arrested driver was from out of state and nobody else was available to assume responsibility), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 869, 101 S.Ct. 207, 66 L.Ed.2d 89 (1980); United States v. 1988 B.M.W. 750IL, 716 F.Supp. 171, 173-74 (E.D.Pa.) (lack of licensed driver sufficient reason for police to impound car parked near street corner and exposed to risk of theft or vandalism), aff'd without opinion, 891 F.2d 281, 284 (3d Cir.1989). 22 Defendant says that it was unnecessary for the police to impound the car, pointing in particular to the fact that he was allowed to drive to the barracks, albeit accompanied by a trooper. He argues that he could as easily have been permitted to remove his car to a safe place of his own selection. But, the existence of alternative means of dealing with the automobile, even less intrusive means, does not illegitimate the constables' decision to impound it. When a motor vehicle is left without a licensed driver in the course of a lawful highway stop, the Constitution only requires the police to act reasonably with regard to disposition of the vehicle. There is no requirement that the officers must select the least intrusive way of fulfilling their community caretaking responsibilities. See Bertine, 479 U.S. at 373-74, 107 S.Ct. at 742; United States v. Davis, 882 F.2d 1334, 1339 (8th Cir.1989), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1472, 108 L.Ed.2d 610 (1990); see also Illinois v. Lafayette, 462 U.S. 640, 647-48, 103 S.Ct. 2605, 2610, 77 L.Ed.2d 65 (1983) (search of arrestee's personal property at stationhouse was not unreasonable even if less intrusive means existed to achieve legitimate goals of search); LaFrance, 879 F.2d at 4 (temporary detention of package must be reasonable under the circumstances; reasonableness need not be judged by least intrusive means standard). 23 Framed precisely, the critical question in cases such as this is not whether the police needed to impound the vehicle in some absolute sense, or could have effected an impoundment more solicitously, but whether the decision to impound and the method chosen for implementing that decision were, under all the circumstances, within the realm of reason. See Brown, 787 F.2d at 932. The inquiry into reasonableness always necessitates constructing a balance among competing interests. See Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 654, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 1396, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979) (fourth amendment reasonableness inquiry involves balancing legitimate government interests against intrusion on individual's rights); Lopez Lopez v. Aran, 844 F.2d 898, 905 (1st Cir.1988) (in determining reasonableness, judges must weigh the need to search or seize against the invasion the search or seizure entails). In the community caretaker cases, we believe that this search for equipoise, Lopez Lopez, 844 F.2d at 905, almost always involves the exercise of discretion. We explain briefly. 24 Virtually by definition, the need for police to function as community caretakers arises fortuitously, when unexpected circumstances present some transient hazard which must be dealt with on the spot. The police cannot sensibly be expected to have developed, in advance, standard protocols running the entire gamut of possible eventualities. Rather, they must be free to follow sound police procedure, Cady, 413 U.S. at 447, 93 S.Ct. at 2531, that is, to choose freely among the available options, so long as the option chosen is within the universe of reasonable choices. 3 Where, as here, the police have solid, noninvestigatory reasons for impounding a car, there is no need for them to show that they followed explicit criteria in deciding to impound, as long as the decision was reasonable. Cf. United States v. Dall, 608 F.2d 910, 913 (1st Cir.1979) (impoundment leading to inventory search reasonable where it was the regular practice of the Rhode Island State Police to impound a vehicle in a variety of circumstances, including instances in which an out-of-state driver is stopped, cannot produce an operator's license or identification and is driving a vehicle that belongs to someone else), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 918, 100 S.Ct. 1280, 63 L.Ed.2d 603 (1980). 25 That the impoundment of defendant's vehicle stemmed in part from an investigatory motive does not change either the analysis or the result. As long as impoundment pursuant to the community caretaking function is not a mere subterfuge for investigation, the coexistence of investigatory and caretaking motives will not invalidate the seizure. Cf., e.g., United States v. Frank, 864 F.2d 992, 1001 (3d Cir.1988) (that inventory search serves investigatory as well as administrative purpose does not invalidate the search), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1095, 109 S.Ct. 2442, 104 L.Ed.2d 998 (1989); United States v. Orozco, 715 F.2d 158, 161 (5th Cir.1983) (per curiam) (same). Here, the district court did not find that the impoundment was pretextual, and we, as an appellate tribunal, are in no position to impress such a finding on a record which is scarcely suggestive of a sham. See United States v. Belt, 854 F.2d 1054, 1055-56 (7th Cir.1988). At any rate, the impoundment of the Toyota in the exercise of the troopers' community caretaking responsibilities was amply justified on objective grounds. Hence, any speculation into the troopers' subjective intent would be supererogatory. See United States v. Hadfield, 918 F.2d 987, 993 (1st Cir.1990). 26 We need not paint the lily. Because impounding the car resulted from a legitimate use of the troopers' caretaking authority, the question of suppression was unaffected by whether or not Rodriguez was arrested or by the legality of his arrest. See United States ex rel. LaBelle v. LaVallee, 517 F.2d 750, 755 (2d Cir.1975) (discovery of bloodstains by policeman who entered vehicle to check handbrake held to be legitimate regardless of lawfulness of vehicle owner's arrest; police officer was exercising community caretaking function), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1062, 96 S.Ct. 803, 46 L.Ed.2d 655 (1976); cf. New York v. Harris, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1640, 1644-45, 109 L.Ed.2d 13 (1990) (statements made after warrantless arrest need not be suppressed merely because arrest was illegal). 27