Opinion ID: 780355
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mendez's Motion to Suppress Evidence

Text: 12 In the evidentiary hearing, the district court heard testimony from Officers Foster and Resto and reviewed documentary evidence submitted by both parties. In deciding to deny the suppression motion, the district court relied chiefly on what it termed the uncontradicted testimony of the two officers. Mendez, 139 F.Supp.2d at 280. The court made the following factual findings: (1) The written policy of the Hartford Police Department required Foster to have the car towed and impounded; (2) the unwritten policy and practice of the Hartford Police Department required Foster to conduct an inventory search of the car; (3) to conduct the inventory search, Foster was required to complete a tow slip that noted, among other things, any valuables that remained in the car; (4) to complete the tow slip, the officers were specifically trained to search the glove compartment of the automobile to be towed; (5) Foster did, in fact, conduct such an inventory search and complete such a tow slip. Id. at 276. The court concluded that Foster and Resto found the handgun and heroin by following this established, standardized routine ... [and] that the inventory search procedure [of the Hartford Police Department] is sufficiently regulated to satisfy the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 281. 13 On appeal, Mendez argues that the evidence does not support the district court's factual findings, and that in any event, those factual findings do not support the court's legal conclusions. Specifically, Mendez asserts that the testimony of the two officers was ambiguous and contradictory, and that the tow slip was not properly completed because it did not list any valuables. Therefore, Mendez contends, the search was not an inventory search conducted in good faith pursuant to `standardized criteria ... or established routine.' United States v. Thompson, 29 F.3d 62, 65 (2d Cir.1994) (quoting Florida v. Wells, 495 U.S. 1, 4, 110 S.Ct. 1632, 109 L.Ed.2d 1 (1990)).