A vehicle used for a business but you are not the owner. At what point do you no longer control that vehicle.

Question

Let’s say you return to the owner of the vehicles private property and it wasn’t until after you exited the vehicle a police officer pulls up and turns on his lights. One officer runs my drivers license and checks for warrants and I am cleared on private property. The owner of the vehicle ask me for the keys so I lock the doors and hand over the keys. An employee who was in the passenger seat must of had a warrant and took off running, so another 15 minutes later comes back and asked me to remove a backpack where the runner was sitting because he said he didn’t want me to get in trouble for something that was not mine , so I removed the backpack but I had to ask the owner to unlock the door cause I did not have the keys. The officer tricked me and he searched the backpack and then he searched the unoccupied vehicle he didn’t ask the owner which was there,  then found something that was not mine and charged me it wasn’t on me or in my plan view while driving that morning.

John Michael Frick · Answer

The fact pattern you describe raises a fact question as to who was in possession of the "something" the police officer found inside the car.  Because you had just exited the vehicle as the police officer was arriving, there is a reasonable suspicion (i.e. probable cause) that the "something" found inside the car was in either your possession or the possession of the other employee who took off running or both.  Where exactly inside the car the "something" was found could be relevant in your trial.  For example, "something" under the driver's seat or in the driver's side door would logically have been in your possession.  "Something" under the passenger seat or in the passenger-side door would logically be in the possession of the employee who took off running.

Q: A vehicle used for a business but you are not the owner. At what point do you no longer control that vehicle.