Michael Kevin Adams v. Texas

The warrantless impoundment of an arrested person’s car must be in furtherance of “public safety” or “community caretaking functions.” South Dakota v. Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 368 (1976). Impoundment is thus generally impermissible if the person has been arrested for a minor offense (presumably, they’ll be released quickly and can return to the car) and the car is parked legally and unobtrusively. But can a police officer impound the unobtrusively parked car of a person arrested for a minor traffic offense if the officer hopes that the person will agree to a lengthy interrogation as to a more serious offense, and thus will be unable to quickly retrieve the car?