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CA3: Search incident of gym bag of handcuffed defendant was valid

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The officer had a warrant for the defendant and saw him in a check-in line at a hotel with a gym bag in hand. When the defendant’s confederate saw the officer, he shouted out to the defendant who turned to look at him. Hotel security grabbed the confederate. The officer grabbed defendant to arrest him, and the defendant dropped the gym bag to his feet. Defendant was handcuffed, and the search incident of the bag on the spot was valid under Gant. United States v. Shakir, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 16492 (3d Cir. August 10, 2010): We held that this search was not lawfully incident to Myers's arrest. In doing so, we quoted with approval an opinion of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit which suggested that a search under these circumstances would be valid as incident to the arrest "[a]bsent some objective basis upon which to conclude that the arresting officer had no reason to fear either the arrestee or the environment in which the arrest unfolded...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 13, 2010 (boomark / email).