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Defendant arrested 30-60' from car was not a "recent occupant" under Thornton

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant was arrested 30-60' away from the car he had been driving for no DL, and he did not qualify as a sufficiently recent occupant under Thornton to justify a search incident of the car. A.T.P. v. State, 2008 Fla. App. LEXIS 1059 (Fla. 2DCA February 1, 2008): We conclude that the facts of the present case as outlined above make it distinguishable from Thornton. Here, A.T.P. was not in close proximity to his vehicle, had not recently exited the vehicle, and did not have the keys to the locked vehicle in his possession. There was no evidence that the deputy was concerned for his safety or that there was a risk that A.T.P. might destroy any evidence that might be contained in the vehicle. From our de novo review we conclude that the trial court erred when it denied the motion to suppress based on the legal conclusion that the case was controlled by Thornton...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 04, 2008 (boomark / email).