Notes of Decisions
Search and Seizure
Warrantless seizure of a radar detector would have been permissible under the plain view doctrine when the officer, who responded to a dispatch informing him of an accident and who approached a truck involved in the accident to assure that the emergency brake was set, viewed the radar detector on the trucks dashboard from his lawful vantage point outside of the truck; the seizure was not rendered impermissible because it was delayed until a time when the truck was impounded. Commonwealth v. Petroll, 738 A.2d 993 (Pa. 1999).