Searches Incident to Investigative Detention after the Investigative Detention has Ended?
R. v. Dunkley , 2016 ONCA 597 (CanLII), is interesting for a number of reasons. First, in a rare move, Court of Appeal for Ontario overturned the decision of the trial court to include gun evidence which was obtained in violation Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Second, the appeal considered the interaction between the authority of the police to conduct an inventory search of a vehicle impounded pursuant to the Highway Traffic Act and the right under s. 8 of the Charter to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. And third, in considering whether the police had the lawful authority to search the appellant’s vehicle under the common law investigative detention doctrine, the Court said this: In this case, the Crown cannot rely on this power to justify a search for identification after the appellant has fled the scene. The search of the car at that point had no nexus to a concern for officer or public safety directly arising out of an investigative detenti...