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WA: Search incident of defendant's purse was justified by her arrest for refusal to get out of truck

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant's refusal to get out of truck during traffic stop justified arrest for obstruction and a search incident of her purse, even though, if she exited voluntarily, the officer could not have searched it. State v. Zimmer, 2008 Wash. App. LEXIS 2061 (August 19, 2008): Ironically, if Zimmer had agreed to Slyter's request to search the passenger compartment of the truck and exited the truck as requested, Slyter could not have searched her purse. See Id. at 498-99 (officer may not search readily recognizable personal items of non-arrested individuals in vehicle). But because Zimmer did refuse to exit the truck, she was arrested for obstructing justice and Slyter's lawful search of Zimmer's purse was incident to her arrest. Moore, 161 Wn.2d at 885...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 25, 2008 (boomark / email).