Opinion ID: 2996658
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Legality of Search

Text: Defendants raise three independent arguments to support the legality of the search: that (1) it was incident to a custodial arrest; (2) there was probable cause to search for evidence of drugs or intoxicating agent; and (3) the search was inevitable. The district court granted summary judgment based on the first of those theories: that the search was incident to a custodial arrest. We may affirm the district court’s ruling on any basis supported by the record. Id. Construing the record in the light most favorable to Ochana, we depart from the district court’s analysis but ultimately arrive at the same conclusion. 6 No. 02-2227 Generally, it is legal to search a vehicle incident to a lawful custodial arrest, including the contents of any closed containers found inside, in order to disarm the suspect or preserve evidence of a crime. See New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 460 (1981). It is not, however, permissible to conduct a Belton search pursuant to a traffic citation alone. Knowles v. Iowa, 525 U.S. 113 (1998). In Knowles, the Court underscored that a Belton search may not be conducted as part of a mere traffic stop, even if there is probable cause for the traffic stop, or probable cause to arrest the driver for the traffic violation. In order to conduct a Belton search, the occupant of the vehicle must actually be held under custodial arrest. Id. at 118. Construing the record in the light most favorable to Ochana, we find insufficient evidence that Ochana was under custodial arrest at the time of the search. A suspect is under custodial arrest when “a reasonable person in the suspect’s position would have understood the situation to constitute a restraint on freedom of movement of the degree which the law associates with formal arrest.” United States v. Ienco, 182 F.3d 517, 523 (7th Cir. 1999). For example, in Smith v. Ball State Univ., 295 F.3d 763, 768-69 (7th Cir. 2002), we found that the removal and detention of an unconscious person at the wheel of a running vehicle was merely investigatory and was not equivalent to a custodial arrest, even if the officers reasonably believed that the person was impaired by drugs or alcohol. Similarly, in this case, even if Officers Flores and Schwocher reasonably believed that Ochana was intoxicated, a reasonable person in Ochana’s shoes would have thought that he was merely being detained for a traffic citation. Ochana had no reason to believe that he was under custodial arrest for any offense. He was not told that he was under arrest; he was not handcuffed or frisked; and no sobriety test was conducted. Officers Flores and Schwocher did not ask Ochana any questions that would signal to a reasonable person that No. 02-2227 7 he was suspected of having committed any other offense. For these reasons, we find insufficient evidence in the summary judgment record to support a conclusion as a matter of law that this search was incident to a custodial arrest. Nonetheless, we agree with the district court that summary judgment was proper because we find that there was probable cause to search the vehicle for evidence of drugs or other intoxicating agents. Unlike searches incident to a custodial arrest, which turn on the objective belief of a reasonable person in the suspect’s position, see Ienco, 182 F.3d at 523, probable cause determinations turn on the objective belief of a reasonable person in the officers’ position. See Marshall v. Teske, 284 F.3d 765, 770 (7th Cir. 2002). Even limiting ourselves to the undisputed facts that took place before Ochana emerged from his vehicle, the record permits only the conclusion that the officers had reason to believe that Ochana was unlawfully impaired. Ochana did not just doze off; he was passed out for several minutes at an intersection during rush hour; his window was open and cars were honking at him. He admits that he recalls none of this. He did not wake up, even though an officer shook him, verbally tried to wake him, and reached in and changed the gear to “park.” At that point in time, the officers had probable cause to search Ochana’s car for an intoxicating agent. See Smith, 295 F.3d at 769-70 (officers had probable cause to search the car of an unconscious driver for intoxicating agents, even though the driver was actually in diabetic shock). Thus, the warrantless search of Ochana’s car (and the backpack inside, whether it was open or not) for evidence of an intoxicating agent was not unconstitutional. See Valance v. Wisel, 110 F.3d 1269, 1279 (7th Cir. 1997) (Fourth Amendment permits the warrantless search of a vehicle when there is “probable cause 8 No. 02-2227 to believe that the vehicle contains contraband or evidence of criminality”); United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 818-19 (1982) (rule applies to closed containers inside the car). For these reasons, we find that the officers’ search of Ochana’s car was constitutional. We therefore need not, and do not, reach the question whether the search was inevitable.