Quote:
Originally Posted by Kodiakco
I disagree. No where have I found that an Officer can search a vehicle during a Terry stop. The occupants themselves yes, but not the vehicle.
Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
|
They can search within reaching distance. If they have reasonable suspicion that there's a gun under the seat, they can search under the seat. It would make no sense for the court to allow an officer to search someone's "person" for weapons but not under the seat of the car he's sitting on, or anywhere else he could grab a weapon. Standard is the same as for any Terry search; Reasonable Suspicion. From the US Supreme Court decision in MI v. Long:
Quote:
|
2. The protective search of the passenger compartment of respondent's car was reasonable under the principles articulated in Terry and other decisions of this Court. Although Terry involved the stop and subsequent patdown search for weapons of a person suspected of criminal activity, it did not restrict the preventive search to the person of the detained suspect. Protection of police and others can justify protective searches when police have a reasonable belief that the suspect poses a danger. Roadside encounters between police and suspects are especially hazardous, and danger may arise from the possible presence of weapons in the area surrounding a suspect. Thus, the search of the passenger compartment of an automobile, limited to those areas in which a weapon may be placed or hidden, is permissible if the police officer possesses a reasonable belief based on specific and articulable facts which, taken together with the rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant the officer to believe that the suspect is dangerous and the suspect may gain immediate control of weapons.
|