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NY Kings Co.: Driving to text messaging does not warrant arrest or search incident

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Texting while driving does not support a search incident. Proper purpose of traffic offenses in NY is to just issue a summons and let the driver go on his way, and that is state policy. This arrest was thus pretextual. People v. Abdul-Akim, 5518/09 (Kings Co. NY May 6, 2010): Given that backdrop, the court concludes that the police conduct here constituted an unreasonable intrusion on privacy, even on the assumption that defendant Ayala committed the cell phone infraction. There was no need to arrest defendant Ayala. Issuance of a citation was eminently practicable, for defendant Ayala had numerous items of identification — and, of course, a valid license. Beyond that, the back seat passenger, Brown, was licensed, and could have driven the car had defendant Ayala not been able to...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 14, 2010 (boomark / email).