This is um my husband's car. Well, it's abandoned in the middle of the road, so it's getting towed. You left it here. >> just left it 5 minutes ago. >> Why'd you leave it in the road? >> Cuz it broke down. Waiting on my dad to come. >> All right. Well, tow truck's on the way, so Really? Really. I'm sorry. Why? What do you mean, why? I turned around on y'all. Y'all parked in the driveway, then I go down there, then y'all drop the car and leave. >> Yeah, cuz it's messing up. It's been overheating. >> What I just told you. My dad's on his way. >> Kennedy. The driver disappeared. The passenger's still not here. My dad is on his way to tow it. >> have a driver's license with you? No. Not on me. I left my keys. My stuff's in the car. >> Yeah. Well, you had the keys at one point. You were driving the vehicle. I wasn't driving the vehicle. You were driving the vehicle. I seen you driving the vehicle. I'm not going to argue with you. Okay? >> Why are you being rude? >> Why are you lying to me? >> I'm not lying to you. Can you prove I was driving the vehicle? >> Yes, I can prove you were driving the vehicle. You can't. Yeah. Where's your driver's license? >> I just told you I don't have it on me. Well, Hey. Now she wants to decline she was driving the vehicle, but she doesn't have an ID. She doesn't have keys. >> stuff in the car. I'm literally on the phone with my dad. Well, you don't have keys. It's broke down. It's getting towed. You can You can It's not your car, so we can't give it to you anyways. It's my husband's car. Right now, he's incarcerated. All right. He left his >> Prove your identity that it's your husband. My identity might We have different last names. >> All right. Well, >> a marriage certificate. I can go back way back home to get it. >> No. Hey. She have black male with her? Yeah, we saw him there. Oh, y'all did? I did. I don't know if you noticed when she was getting out of the car, she was walking up to the house, but when we went back by, they weren't there. She have keys for it? She had them. She was driving it. That's why she don't want to give me her license, cuz I seen her driving. No. There's a wallet in there. Got to inventory it anyways, so Yeah, it is locked. There's a wallet under the seat and a wallet in the center console. So, you saw them when you came up? Yeah, so they were driving. I Um they were coming off Spencers. They Um I don't know if they had a seatbelt on. I turned around on ours. They pulled into this house next to where the shooting happened. Pulled in that house. They got out, acted like they were working on the car. I see them pull out. As soon as they see my car, they dip down here and then they must have came down here. My thinking is they had dope on them and they got rid of it. I guarantee she doesn't have a license. Here you go. Ma'am, back up here a little bit in my space. Back up. >> I'm backing up. Can I get your name and your badge number, please? Corporal Cronk. Corporal Cronk? Your name and your badge number? Officer Hayes. Badge number? 351. 228. 2 what? 228. 228. Thank you. You backed my car up and Make sure he doesn't back up till I get my car out of the way. Hey, think I can pop that open, right? I think so. I don't see why not. We don't have keys for it and it's locked up. We can break into it. After being able to open the vehicle's door, the officers proceed to search it. They eventually find a black backpack with a crystal-like [music] substance, two glass smoking pipes with burnt residue, and a broken pill inside. June 10th, 2024. Lady Lake Police, Florida. An abandoned vehicle becomes a Fourth Amendment battleground. Here's the legal framework. South Dakota versus Opperman, 1976. Police can inventory impounded vehicles without a warrant, but there's a catch. Florida v. Wells says you've got to follow standardized procedures. No fishing expeditions. Officers remove the abandoned vehicle under community caretaking authority. Totally separate from criminal investigation. During inventory, they find 32 g of meth, pipes, and Xanax. Game changer. The suspect, now identified as Alexis, had walked down the street away from the traffic stop. One officer goes to get her. Quit pulling away from me. >> What am I doing? Why can't you give me your information? >> Stop. I am stopped. Stop pulling away from me. >> I am. I'm not pulling from you. Wrong. I'm not [ __ ] pulling from you. >> arms. I am relaxed. Why are you arresting me? For what? Walking down the street? Why are you arresting me? You didn't give me no citation or anything. I don't have to give you a citation. >> So, why am I Why am I being arrested? >> Driving without a license so far, and then your crack pipes that you got are meth pipes. What? Are you serious right now? I didn't [ __ ] sit in my car. >> Come on. I didn't [ __ ] have [ __ ] in my car. Ow! What the [ __ ] >> Wait. What the [ __ ] You're being dramatic. You're being very dramatic. >> [laughter] >> Get up. Why are you arresting me? Get up. >> Why are you arresting me first? >> Get up, or I'm going to get you lifted up. >> My right is for you to tell tell me. >> You You have a right to remain silent. That's the right you have right now. So, stand up. >> Why are you arresting me? Because I didn't have nothing in my car. I'm not playing your games. Stand up. It's okay. It's fallen face, too, that you did, right? That you just fell and act like you're trying to be something. >> hit my face. Everything's on camera. You're harassing me for 3 days, right? And I was not driving. Okay. My friend was driving. No, he was in the passenger seat. >> No, he wasn't. Okay, we're not Yes, I guess so. Y'all have been harassed for 3 days, and I want to know why. Hey Cronk, so whenever I got out with her, told her to put her hands behind her back, she pulled from me several times. Um, as we're walking back to the car, I had to grab her. Um, she just threw herself down on the ground. She's like, "Oh, you just kicked me in the ankle." Okay, she's being super dramatic. I have not searched her. Search her so we can search her. Yeah, you can use force. I can get her to No, it's not a use of force. There was no force used. Okay, she dropped herself on the ground. You need to search her for anything? >> Yeah, absolutely. Nothing on her. Step in the car. Take this car. Spread your feet for me. Why am I being arrested? And why can't anybody answer me? Drug possession, drug paraphernalia, and driving on a suspended license. I've already told you. Why? That is a damn lie. Listen. So, you tell me you planted drugs in my car? We got body cameras to prove that we didn't. All right. Get your hands off of me. Get your hands off of me. >> Yeah, and the shoes. Okay. You have anything on you that we need to know about, hon? Okay. All right, listen. I'm going to take your shoes off. Stay where you're at. Feet spread, okay? How do these come off? Is there a zipper? Okay. Keep a hand on her for me. I've already gave you the answer. >> No, I don't want him to touch me. He's already grabbing me around. You're hurting my arm. Ma'am, I am barely holding you. You're pulling away, hurting yourself. Except that other one. I am not pulling. Sitting there squeezing my arm. >> squeezing nothing. I'm holding your arm, ma'am. Put them back in. You're being very dramatic. I want to talk to my attorney. Okay. Yeah. Quit talking to us. Up. There we go. Put down. All right, put in. Have a seat. You pushed me. No one pushed you. Quit being dramatic. >> Okay. You're being dramatic. No, you are. Do you have any test kits in your car? What test kits? Not these ones? I might I think so, yeah. Cocaine and um yeah, cocaine's fine. So, you got blue and orange? Mhm. It's more pink and orange there, though. Mhm. Some of that would be tested for meth. No wind at all until you want to start messing with dope. What a disaster. So, I mean, this is testing for fentanyl, but I have a crack white rock that was in there. So, it's probably meth with cut with fentanyl. Let me turn the AC on, roll these windows down. Wake up. Hey. Hey. Wake up. You need to have EMS to check her out. Okay, give me EMS 51 10-15. As soon as she breathe and she As soon as I walked to the car she put her head down, so. We got EMS coming to check you out. Where you at Adam? I'm going to grab my drink out of your car. Yeah, they have water but they don't like Yeah, you can't have water in the back of the cop car, right? Yeah, and you did not give me any reason why you arrested me. You just told me that I gave you an awful order and you kept pulling away from me. I did not pull away from you. And besides, I am 98 lbs. What am I going to do against you? That's what I was thinking. Okay, everything you found in my car was not in my car. Why are you wearing my sunglasses? They look just like mine. Yeah, I promise you they're not. I guess you're a girl's sunglasses. Yeah. That's felony drug possession under Florida statute 893.3. Now there's probable cause. When the subject resists, we shift to Graham vs. Connor. Three factors matter. Severity of crime, felony, immediate threat, active resistance, resisting arrest, absolutely. Officers use soft hand control only. No strikes, no weapons, textbook minimum force. Florida statute 843.02 makes resisting a crime. Her size doesn't matter. The act itself is illegal. Third suspended license offense, that's a felony in Florida. Up to 5 years. When EMS arrived, Alexis claimed she passed out in the back of the patrol vehicle due to heat. To be safe, it was determined she should be transported to a hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital, Alexis advised that she had no complaints and didn't need [music] to be seen. She requested to be discharged and her request was granted. She was then taken to Lake County Jail without further incident. During the officer's field testing for drugs, the white crystal-like substance tested positive for approximately >> [music] >> .32 g of methamphetamine. The two smoking pipes also tested positive for methamphetamine and the broken [music] pill was identified as Xanax. Alexis's driving history revealed [music] two previous driving with a suspended license convictions. For this case, she was charged with her third driving with a suspended license offense, possession of methamphetamine, possession of Xanax, possession of drug paraphernalia, and resisting without violence, totaling a bond of $9,500. [music] She was released the next day on a C bond. She is innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. Officers earn a B+ professional, appropriate force, clear communication. But they didn't document the inventory procedure on camera. That's a legal vulnerability. The subject gets a D- minus. Recording police is fine, resisting arrest is not. Contradictory statements and physical resistance turned a bad situation into felony charges. Three takeaways. Officers, narrate your inventory procedures on camera. Citizens, fight bad arrests in court, not on the street. That's where you actually win, and never give contradictory statements. Silence is your friend. Lying destroys your defense. Bottom line, inventory searches are constitutional when done right. Finding contraband during a lawful search gives police probable cause. That's the law. Drop your thoughts below, and check out Audit the Court for more police and courtroom breakdowns.