The Fourth Amendment guarantees the right of persons to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures. Houstina , supra at 74. In order to show that a search was legal, the police must show either that they had a warrant, or that their conduct fell under one of the narrow, specific exceptions to the warrant requirement. One of the narrow, specific exceptions to the warrant requirement is searches incident to arrest. A search incident to an arrest is a reasonable search and, therefore, permitted by the Fourth Amendment, even though the police do not have a search warrant.
Defendant argues that the officer lacked probable cause to search the vehicle for illegal drugs.
It is the fact of the lawful arrest which establishes the authority to search. Robinson , supra at 235. Fundamental to the search incident to arrest exception is the requirement that there must be a lawful arrest in order to establish the authority to search. Houstina , supra at 75. Defendant does not dispute that he was lawfully arrested for driving without a valid driver's license.