{"id":7282,"date":"2023-10-26T16:03:48","date_gmt":"2023-10-26T16:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portal.bluetogold.com\/?p=7282"},"modified":"2026-09-17T07:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T14:04:12","slug":"exigency-to-remove-stolen-car-from-driveway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/portal.bluetogold.com\/?p=7282","title":{"rendered":"When Can You Seize a Stolen Car From a Driveway?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This question comes from an officer in Missouri. Basically: what qualifies as exigency when seizing a vehicle from curtilage<\/a>?<\/p>\n

The officer references several of the other videos I’ve done on this issue, which tells me he’s a follower of the channel, and I appreciate it.<\/p>\n

He says: look, in one of those videos you talk about how maybe smoking marijuana in the driveway is exigency, but you don’t really say why. I assume it’s because of destruction of evidence.<\/p>\n

I think it is because of destruction of evidence. And also because we don’t want these people to pull back into the roadway under the influence and crash. That’s kind of my logic.<\/p>\n

The stolen car scenario<\/h2>\n

But then the officer asks: what if we don’t have the marijuana issue, and we see a stolen vehicle in a driveway?<\/p>\n

It’s clearly stolen. The tag is in plain view<\/a>. I run the tag, the vehicle is stolen, everything matches. It is the stolen vehicle.<\/p>\n

I know I can’t just seize it, because we may have a Collins v. Virginia issue. Collins is where the Supreme Court said you cannot seize stolen motor vehicles from curtilage just because they are stolen.<\/p>\n

Whether or not something is curtilage is of course its own debate. But I like to say that the driveway right next to the house, generally speaking, is curtilage.<\/p>\n

He continues: but I work in a small town, I don’t have a lot of resources, so by the time I come back with the warrant the car could be gone.<\/p>\n

My answer: you have to justify it<\/h2>\n

All I’m going to tell you is this. If you have facts or circumstances, it’s up to you to justify it. I can’t do it for you.<\/p>\n

But if you have facts and circumstances that lead you to believe the car is going to be gone by the time you return with the warrant, then the law would allow you to seize it under imminent removal of evidence.<\/p>\n

Two versions of the same call<\/h2>\n

Look, if it’s one o’clock in the morning, and by all accounts everybody in the house appears to be asleep, and nobody knows you’re onto them. I wouldn’t tell you that you should just go grab the car. You might want to go get your warrant, for your own legal safety.<\/p>\n

But if you pass the car, you see it’s stolen, there are people out there, and they see you, and they look like they’re alerted to what you know. Then you have to take care of business.<\/p>\n

If you have to leave and nobody can sit on the car, that changes things. There also may be a safety issue with sitting on the car.<\/p>\n

There’s no template<\/h2>\n

The point is, I don’t have a template for these exigency issues when it comes to cars.<\/p>\n

I’m just letting you know that if you are going to grab the car from the curtilage, you’re going to have to articulate some form of urgency, where you couldn’t get the warrant in the meantime.<\/p>\n

It’s a do-it-or-lose-it type of situation.<\/p>\n

That’s all I can tell you. I hope it gave you some direction. That’s what you need to articulate.<\/p>\n

Keep the questions coming. Until next time my friends, stay safe.<\/p>\n

Related from Blue to Gold<\/h2>\n