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S.D.N.Y.: SI of a zippered bag at the police station was not contemporaneous with arrest

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant had a privacy interest in a zippered bag he was carrying. When the police seized the bag at the time of his arrest, it could not be searched incident to his arrest at police headquarters when he was taken in. United States v. Scott, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52431 (S.D. N.Y. June 8, 2009): However, the search-incident-to-arrest exception does not justify the search of the backpack at the USPIS headquarters after it had been taken from Scott and reduced to the inspectors' exclusive control. "Once law enforcement officers have reduced luggage or other personal property not immediately associated with the person of the arrestee to their exclusive control, and there is no longer any danger that the arrestee might gain access to the property to seize a weapon or destroy evidence, a search of that property is no longer an incident of the arrest...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 25, 2009 (boomark / email).