Situation A: Cops arrest driver for whatever reason - say, drunk driving. In the back seat is a delicious pizza he just bought. Is it entered into evidence (and by “evidence” I mean “the employee break room back at the station”)? Does it stay in the car to rot in the impound lot? Does it get thrown away so the perp at least doesn’t to deal with rancid food in his car when he gets it back?
Situation B: Cops arrest driver for whatever reason - say, possession of drug paraphernalia. Guy turns out to be a delivery driver on the clock. In the back seat is a delicious pizza that he was in the process of delivering (this really happened IRL). Does the fact the pizza is the property of someone other than the perp play into its disposition? Or is the customer who bought it SOL?
Situation B. The customer isn’t SOL. After a reasonable wait, the customer complains that the pizza isn’t there and the company sends out another pizza or at least refunds the money.
Situation A, the police have no obligation to do anything about the pizza. It depends on how nice they want to be to the perp. I doubt anyone is going to think it worthwhile to take the pizza for themselves, the possibility they get in some sort of trouble for stealing a $15 pizza, all be it slim certainly isn’t worth risking your job on.
My cousin had a convertible when he was under 21. He was with a friend who was over 21. The friend bought alcohol and put it in the trunk. It was illegal for my cousin to drive a car containing alcohol regardless of access. The cops pulled them over after witnessing the purchase. They impounded my cousins car. The top was down at the time of impound. It then rained for 2 days with the car uncovered in the impound lot, the interior was destroyed. The cops thought it was pretty funny till they learned my cousin’s mother was a sergeant on the police force in the neighboring town. They called my Aunt to apologize. Her feelings were the arrest was solid but it’s bullshit they let that happen to the car. The arresting officers offered to help pay for damages out of pocket, though the offer was politely declined.
Situation B, The fact someone else had paid for a pizza delivered to them does not play into it. The customer not getting their pizza is between the pizza place and the purchaser. The pizza place should probably refund the money or deliver a pizza as per the agreement. The pizza place could try to pass the loss onto the driver, his criminal activity caused the loss. In all likelyhood the pizza delivery guy gets fired and they don’t bother pursuing it further.
Your story may very well be true, but law enforcement agencies are liable for damage to vehicles or their contents when they are impounded - even if your mother isn’t an officer in another police force. That’s why they do inventory searches (well, that and so they can look for additional evidence.)
I was in a multi vehicle accident requiring an ambulance ride (just bumps and bruises, treated and released). I had just purchased a big order of wings. I offered them to the ambulance crew and they gratefully accepted.
vomit_comet, professional jabs are not permitted in General Questions. As this appears to be directed at police officers, and I have previously warned you about making such remarks in General Questions, I am issuing an official warning.
I would strongly recommend that you read the Rules for this forum and for the rest of the board before making additional posts if you don’t want to find your posting privileges under discussion by the staff. Yous should also confine yourself to factual remarks in GQ and not make obnoxious “jokes.”
I have had my car impounded before. In my scenario the “inventory search” revealed 0 items being found in my car. I couldn’t help but notice a few of my things that “weren’t found” (CD case, tools, etc.) were laying around behind the tow company’s desk.
I’d imagine if you had a pizza in the back that it would not be found during the inventory search, and would be eaten by the employees. This is especially true in the case of a drunk driving arrest. The suspect is not going to get too much sympathy from anyone when he complains that his stuff was stolen, yet the tow officials have documentation saying nothing was in the car to begin with.
Not quite the same thing but here in the Uk, a driver caught without insurance will have his car impounded. We see this often on fly-on-the-wall cop show: They pick up the lack of insurance on their ANPR; stop it and question the driver. Usually they protest that the car is insured by their mother or something but the cop makes phone call and says not.
The next thing is, they are stacking the driver’s possessions on the pavement and loading the car onto a truck.
I’ve always wondered what happens to the stuff of people who get arrested. Like if you’re arrested by the highway patrol on the side of the road, do they lock up your car and take the keys out before they drive off with you in the back?
What about when cops arrest someone at their home? Do they lock up all the doors and windows, turn off the stove, any running water, make sure the dog is fed, before they leave?
The police are liable for vehicles that aren’t in their possession? The police will take “evidence,” but your CDs and such normally stay with the car.
What happened? Did you ask?
They lock it, call a tow truck, and maybe give the key to the towing company. If they’re arresting you and you are in a locality of any size, it won’t probably be one officer alone, so someone else can deal with the car while they cart you off. I’m not sure if they have any obligation to wait for the truck.
The dog sounds like a liability issue. The rest may be at discretion, or they may allow you to arrange things if you aren’t arrested on a major crime.
The scenario I can easily see here is that: usually in such a situation I believe they usually do at least sweep of the premises looking for other people who may come charging out of somewhere with a damn handcannon, or other danger, or other “in plain sight” type violations to add to the charges like drug paraphernalia on the coffee table and so on. I do imagine they may, in such a sweep, take notice if the stove is on or the sink is running and switch it off, if for no other reason than their own immediate safety. After some quick Googling I simply could not find a single story anywhere about a house fire occurring immediately after an arrest in said house. I admit it wasn’t a completely comprehensive search, and an isolated result may have been drowned out by the millions of stories of arrests occurring after a house fire, the much more common scenario.
As for the dog, that sort of thing is probably taken care of by the suspects’ “one phone call” wherein they phone a family member, or lawyer if they have one (who then no doubt calls family members or someone else who takes care of the legwork in handling cleanup, etc). Worst case, just like when they call a towtruck for your car when they take you off the highway, they may call animal control to take custody of your animals. Even in a small town it’s unlikely that “Dog Peed on Floor After Arrest” would make the news, so I didn’t try looking for that
