WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has ruled that police need a warrant to search the vehicle of someone they have arrested if the person is locked up in a patrol cruiser and poses no safety threat to officers.
The court's 5-4 decision Tuesday effectively limits the authority of police to search a vehicle immediately after the arrest of a suspect.
Justice John Paul Stevens said in the majority opinion that if a car's passenger compartment is not within reach of a suspect who has been removed from the vehicle, then police have little reason to rush to a warrantless search.
The decision backs an Arizona high court ruling in favor of Rodney Joseph Gant, who was handcuffed, seated in the back of a patrol car and under police supervision when Tucson, Ariz., police officers searched his car. They found cocaine and drug paraphernalia.
You lock the door, and throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me