Court Opinion

ID: 9544238
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:53:30.833373+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:12:29.384941
License: Public Domain

Finley, J.
(dissenting) — I am unable to agree with the reasoning or the result reached by the majority.
The majority, it seems to me, “bootstraps” a result by indulging in what could be characterized as retrospective jurisprudence. Rather than examining the pertinent events of the instant case in their proper order of occurrence, the majority’s analysis takes as its point of departure an assumed fact, i.e., that the television was a stolen one and then works backward from this assumption and concludes that the seizure and impoundment of the vehicle was proper.
The proper order of pertinent events is:
*231. A citizen reported a “suspicious” vehicle containing four Black males.
2. The police spotted the reported car.
3. By license check, the police established that the owner, January, had an outstanding traffic warrant.
4. The vehicle was pulled over and the officers noticed the television set in the trunk.
5. Glasper, purportedly the owner of the TV set, was unable to identify it by brand name.
6. The officers checked with the NCIC to ascertain whether the set had been reported stolen and received a negative reply.
7. A police records check was made on all the occupants of the vehicle, and this too was negative.
8. The police arrested January and impounded the vehicle.
All facts subsequent to the impoundment are irrelevant to the threshold question of whether there was reasonable cause to impound.
The majority ignores and implicitly overrules the recent and well-reasoned decision of the Court of Appeals in State v. Singleton, 9 Wn. App. 327, 511 P.2d 1396 (1973). The facts in Singleton closely parallel those in the instant case. There the police arrested the defendant on an outstanding traffic warrant and contemporaneously decided to impound the vehicle. While conducting an inventory search, the police received a tip that the driver’s key case contained a controlled substance. It did, and Singleton was convicted of its unlawful possession. In properly analyzing the events leading to the discovery of the controlled substance, the Court of Appeals unanimously held that, at the point in time when the decision was made to impound, the officers had no idea that the vehicle contained contraband. Speaking for the court Judge Horowitz stated:
Reasonable cause for impoundment may, for example, include the necessity for removing (1) an unattended-to car illegally parked or otherwise illegally obstructing traffic; (2) an unattended-to car from the scene of an accident when the driver is physically or mentally incapable of deciding upon steps to be taken to deal with his *24property, as in the case of the intoxicated, mentally incapacitated or seriously injured driver; (3) a car that has been stolen or used in the commission of a crime when its retention as evidence is necessary; (4) an abandoned car; (5) a car so mechanically defective as to be a menace to others using the public highway; (6) a car impoundable pursuant to ordinance or statute which provides therefor as in the case of forfeiture. The mere commission of one or more of the 27 bailable traffic offenses listed in JTR T2.03 (m) does not necessarily provide reasonable cause for impoundment. See People v. Nagel, 17 Cal. App. 3d 492, 95 Cal. Rptr. 129 (1971); Virgil v. Superior Court, 268 Cal. App. 2d 127, 73 Cal. Rptr. 793 (1968). Mere overtime parking, unless there is reason to believe the car has been abandoned, ordinarily does not justify impoundment. Compare Boss v. Spokane, 63 Wn.2d 305, 387 P.2d 67 (1963). There is even case support for the view that if the driver cannot present his driver’s license when arrested on a traffic violation, impoundment on that account is not required. People v. Nagel, supra; United States v. Pannell, 256 A.2d 925 (D.C.App.1969).
In the instant case, at the time the police officers arrested the defendant the car was parked at the curb in the 1900 block of East Madison Street. At that point the officers had no reason to believe that the car contained any contraband and they conducted no search therefor; nor did they conduct a search incident to arrest either for evidence or weapons, there being no basis for such a search on the charge for which defendant was arrested.
State v. Singleton, supra at 332-33. Thus, in conclusion, the Division One panel reasoned that no reasonable cause existed for impoundment.
Applying this rationale to the instant case, we have (1) the police stopping a “suspicious” vehicle; (2) the arrest of the driver on a traffic warrant; (3) a criminal records check showing all occupants of the vehicle to be “clean”; (4) an NCIC check on the television which turns up negative. Thus at the point in time when the police decided to impound the vehicle, there was absolutely nothing to indicate to them that either a crime had been committed or that the *25vehicle occupants were criminals. There is simply nothing inherently suspicious about four Black males driving through Seattle. Further, when coupled with no additional inculpatory circumstances, the fact that one does not know the brand or trade name of a television set in the trunk of his automobile does not give rise to a reasonable cause to impound the vehicle. The circumstances in this case do not add up to the requisite quantum of certainty which equates to a reasonable cause to impound.
Furthermore, it seems to me the majority does not appreciate the breadth of their holding. Their rationale apparently would authorize the impoundment of any vehicle stopped for a traffic violation until such time that it is learned that the visible contents are not contraband. This would overrule the sound principles set forth in the Singleton decision. I would not do so. For the reasons stated, I dissent.
Utter, J., concurs with Finley, J.