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CA5: Tossing baggie of drugs from a stopped car justified search incident

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Traffic stop led to defendant throwing baggie of drugs out of the car, and another officer who shortly arrived found it. That justified a search incident. United States v. Singleton, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 8395 (5th Cir. April 22, 2010) (unpublished). The officer had reasonable suspicion for the detention. “A recognized exception to this rule is that if additional reasonable suspicion arises in the course of the stop and before the initial purpose of the stop has been fulfilled, then the detention may continue until the new reasonable suspicion has been dispelled or confirmed. ... However, mere ‘uneasy feelings’ and inconsistent stories between a driver and passenger do not constitute articulable facts that support a reasonable suspicion of drug trafficking...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on April 25, 2010 (boomark / email).