Commonwealth v. Oliveira

The interlocutory appeal in these companion cases requires us to examine whether it was reasonable for the police to impound a vehicle lawfully parked in a department store lot and conduct an inventory search of the vehicle after the authorized driver of the vehicle was arrested for shoplifting. We conclude that where the driver had offered the police an alternative to impoundment that was lawful and practical under the circumstances, it was unreasonable and thus unconstitutional to impound the vehicle and conduct an inventory search. We therefore affirm the motion judge’s allowance of the…