People v. One 1958 Chevrolet Impala

SHINN, P.J.

Pursuant to sections 11612 and 11613 of the Health and Safety Code, notice of seizure and intended forfeiture proceedings were filed by the People against the defendant vehicle, charging a violation of section 11610 of said code in that a narcotic was kept, deposited or concealed in the vehicle. Based on a finding that the automobile was seized and evidence taken therefrom in the course of an illegal search and seizure the court denied the forfeiture. A motion for a new trial having been denied, the People appeal from the order denying the motion and from the judgment. The appeal from the order is dismissed. (Code Civ. Proc., § 963.)

On appeal from the judgment, the People argue, first, that the proceedings in question are civil in nature and, therefore, that the exclusionary rule regarding evidence obtained by illegal search and seizure does not apply and, second, that in any event, the search and seizure were not illegal, the officers concerned having had probable cause in their taking of the narcotic from the defendant automobile. Concurring in the second contention we do not reach the first, and, therefore, confine our remarks to the second contention.

The record discloses that at 2:30 a.m. on November 2, 1961, two police officers were in their vehicle facing north at an intersection, stopped at a stop sign. They observed the defendant vehicle heading toward them from the opposite side of the intersection. It was traveling in the middle of the road and its headlights were off. It was accelerating at such a speed that it came to a rolling stop out into the intersection. It thereupon turned in front of the police car in an easterly direction on the cross street. The police officers gave chase, turning on their red lights; after traveling about a block at approximately the speed limit for that street, the lights of the defendant vehicle were turned on and it made an abrupt right turn from near the center dividing line into the next cross street. It immediately made a sharp U-turn on that street and was traveling north when it stopped, blocking the two eastbound lanes of the street on which the police car was still traveling. The police car had to brake sharply and stop in order to avoid a collision. The cars were about 10 feet apart when stopped. The driver, Richardson, turned and looked at the officers. Officer Mackley testified: “When he saw us, he then looked downward toward the floorboards. His

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