State v. Dearden
| Decision Date | 29 June 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 76-1791,76-1791 |
| Citation | 347 So.2d 462 |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
| Parties | STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. James F. DEARDEN, Appellee. |
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Davis G. Anderson, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellant.
Joseph McDermott, St. Petersburg, for appellee.
Appellant, State of Florida, brings this interlocutory appeal from the order of the trial court granting a motion to suppress made by appellee/defendant, James F. Dearden.
The sole point raised on appeal is whether the impoundment and inventory of appellee's automobile were reasonable.
At the hearing on the motion only two witnesses, both police officers for the City of St. Petersburg, were called to testify: Thomas A. Gavin and Richard F. Roseberry. Officer Gavin testified that he saw appellee's automobile cross the grassed area of a median strip while turning into a parking lot. The officer pulled behind appellee's automobile which appellee had momentarily stopped. Appellee then put his vehicle in reverse and hit the front of Officer Gavin's police cruiser. Gavin administered a field sobriety test to appellee to determine whether he was driving while under the influence of alcohol and arrested him for DWI. A warrantless inventory was undertaken at the scene to catalogue and protect the personal property in the automobile before it was moved to the police impoundment area. A small bottle containing five capsules which later proved to be barbiturates was found under the front seat of appellee's vehicle. Appellee was the only occupant of the vehicle. He did not request an alternative to impoundment nor did the police officers suggest any.
Appellee contends that an arresting officer has an affirmative obligation to advise a person arrested while driving an automobile of alternatives to impoundment of his vehicle. While there are opinions which have held that reasonable requests as to the disposition of an arrestee's vehicle be complied with, case law has not gone so far as to require that a silent arrestee be consulted as to his wishes concerning the care of his property or be advised of other means of providing for removal.
From a thorough analysis of the relevant case law in Florida, Judge Scheb, in a recent opinion from this court, discerned that the essence of a lawful impoundment of a vehicle is necessity. Altman v. State, 335 So.2d 626 (Fla.2d DCA 1976). We believe that the circumstances...
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Miller v. State
...Court of Appeal, in the decision sought to be reviewed, in State v. Sanders, 387 So.2d 391 (Fla.2d DCA 1980), and in State v. Dearden, 347 So.2d 462 (Fla.2d DCA 1977), has held that a law enforcement officer has no duty to advise a silent arrestee that his car is being impounded or to tell ......
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Gordon v. State
...a traffic hazard and is impeding the uninterrupted flow of traffic, State v. Cook, 358 So.2d 42 (Fla.2d DCA 1978); State v. Deardon, 347 So.2d 462 (Fla.2d DCA 1977); or where the vehicle is stolen, disabled, illegally parked or abandoned, South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 96 S.Ct. 309......
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Knight v. State, VV-474
...did not ask Knight if he preferred some arrangement other than the police-ordered towing, that is not required. Compare State v. Dearden, 347 So.2d 462 (Fla. 2d DCA 1977) with Chuze v. State, 330 So.2d 166 (Fla. 4th DCA Given that reasonable basis to impound the Corvette, Orange Park police......
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Nealy v. State, 80-1253
...a special condition that he serve one year in the county stockade, which time he did serve.4 State v. Sanders, supra; State v. Dearden, 347 So.2d 462 (Fla.2d DCA 1977).5 Fields v. State, 369 So.2d 603 (Fla.1st DCA 1978), cert. denied, 368 So.2d 1366 (Fla.1979); State v. Broomfield, 364 So.2......