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PA: Need to secure a vehicle for officer safety does not require that the officer actually see a gun

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The need to secure a vehicle for officer safety does not require that the officer actually see a gun. Commonwealth v. Mack, 2008 PA Super 153, 2008 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1561 (July 11, 2008). The trial court erred in failing to suppress the defendant's admission, in response to a question posed by a police officer after he had been handcuffed, but before he had been read his Miranda rights, that the item the officer had felt in his buttocks was a bag of cocaine, but the error was harmless in light of the fact that the officer was entitled to conduct a search incident to defendant's arrest. State v. Lafawn, 2008 Ohio 3475, 2008 Ohio App. LEXIS 2930 (1st Dist. July 11, 2008).* Police had probable cause to search defendant's car for evidence of a burglary, so defendant's wallet found in the car was lawfully found...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 15, 2008 (boomark / email).