impounded vehicle

A friend of mine had long-expired registration tags and their vehicle was towed from a parking lot in Buena Park, California on Saturday. My friend retrieved his vehicle from the impound yard and found that the police had apparently taken the driver's door apart to examine a bullet hole that had been in the door for some time. Now the interior of the door is loose and has some damage as a result of the search. Was it legal for the police to take the door apart to perform such a search? And do they (the police) have an obligation to fix the damage that they did in the process of this examination?

[racer72]

The car was probably considered abandoned. The police have the right to search the car for two reasons. The first is to inventory the contents of the vehicle. And the second would be to make sure none of the contents was illegal. Your friend can file a claim at the police station for any damages but the claim will most likely be turned down. Your friend is going to have to accept some of the liability for the damage, if the vehicle was properly registered, it would not have been towed.