Can the police stop your car without a good reason? The recently decided case of Commonwealth v. Lek sheds some light on this issue. In this case, the lower court denied a defendant’s motion to suppress an inventory search findings after police searched his car and found a firearm.
What happened in the Lek case?
An area of Lowell is considered a high gang area by local police. One night, Detective Sandoval and his partner were in plainclothes in an unmarked police car. According to Sandoval, he and his partner were looking for motor vehicle violations to address gang suppression through motor vehicle stops. Sandoval testified that he was not required to do traffic enforcement that night and was doing it by his own free will.