Commonwealth v. Woofenden

The Commonwealth appeals from an order granting the defendant's motion to suppress evidence obtained after a State trooper discovered the defendant in his car in a roadside parking lot and stopped him from leaving. Although the Commonwealth foreswore relying on the community caretaking doctrine before the motion judge, it now asserts that doctrine as justification for the stop. For his part, the defendant contends that the Commonwealth waived this argument and, further, that, in any event, the trooper stopped the car after any proper caretaking justification had concluded.2 We conclude that…