Judge rules that Greensburg police illegally searched sleeping man's car

A Westmoreland County judge has ruled that police illegally searched a sleeping man’s parked car outside of a Greensburg convenience store.

City police had no legal authority to search the vehicle, in which they found drugs, cash and a loaded weapon, without a warrant, Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Feliciani wrote in a seven-page ruling issued Wednesday. As a result, he barred the evidence that supported some charges filed against Brandon Carter.

The 37-year-old Charleroi man was charged with drug and firearms offenses after police found 48 bricks of heroin, hundreds of anxiety pills, a loaded 9mm handgun and nearly $12,000 in cash in a vehicle where Carter was sleeping outside the Harvey Avenue Sheetz store on Sept. 17, 2020.

The judge ruled there was no urgent reason to search the vehicle without a warrant.

“Albeit parked in a private parking lot, the record is devoid of any evidence that the vehicle was directly obscuring or hindering business. Nor did the vehicle’s presence alone appear to pose an immediate public safety concern for the community that could not be alleviated by securing the vehicle while obtaining a warrant,” the judge wrote.

Officers contended they found Carter asleep and learned there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Carter was removed from vehicle, handcuffed and searched. Marijuana, two bags of suspected cocaine and a pill bottle filled with stamp bags of what appeared to be heroin was found in his pockets, according to court records.

Officers then searched the vehicle before it was towed, police said.

The judge’s ruling barred from evidence the drugs, gun and cash that was discovered in the search.

“The court finds that the search was not designed to inventory items in the vehicle or was a safeguard, but rather was for the sole purpose of investigation,” the judge said.

Carter, who is still in jail on $50,000 bond, is scheduled to appear in court for a hearing on Feb. 7. His trial is tentatively scheduled to begin Feb. 10.