Opinion ID: 2164514
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Search Incident to a Valid Arrest

Text: When a police officer is making a lawful arrest, courts have recognized that there is a danger that the arrestee may use a weapon to resist that arrest thereby endangering the officer and frustrating the arrest itself, or the arrestee may seek to conceal or destroy evidence. E. g., United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 234, 94 S.Ct. 467, 476, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973); Chimel v. California, supra, 395 U.S. at 763, 89 S.Ct. at 2040; Nixon v. United States, D.C. App., 402 A.2d 816, 821 (1979); Arrington v. United States, D.C.App., 382 A.2d 14, 19 (1978); Punch v. United States, D.C.App., 377 A.2d 1353, 1357 (1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 955, 98 S.Ct. 1586, 55 L.Ed.2d 806 (1978); Brooks v. United States, supra at 1304 n. 6. For these reasons, it is constitutionally permissible for the arresting officer to conduct a prompt, warrantless `search of the arrestee's person and the area within his immediate controlconstruing that phrase to mean the area from within which he might gain possession of a weapon or destructible evidence.' United States v. Chadwick, supra, 433 U.S. at 14, 97 S.Ct. at 2485, quoting Chimel v. California, supra, 395 U.S. at 763, 89 S.Ct. at 2040. The basis for this exceptionsafety or destruction of evidenceserves to define the extent of the intrusion constitutionally permissible. Consequently, only those warrantless searches made contemporaneously with the arrest fall within the exception since the underlying justification for the search would no longer exist if the search were remote in time or place from the arrest. Preston v. United States, 376 U.S. 364, 367, 84 S.Ct. 881, 883, 11 L.Ed.2d 777 (1964). The Supreme Court in United States v. Chadwick, supra , when examining the question of whether a search incident to a lawful arrest allowed law enforcement officials to not only seize a footlocker from the immediate vicinity of the arrestee but also conduct a search of the contents of that footlocker later at their office, found that although the warrantless seizure under the circumstances was justified, once the footlocker was in the exclusive control of the officials, the further intrusion into the locker was a violation of the Fourth Amendment absent a search warrant, exigent circumstances or consent from the arrestee. The Court held that [t]he initial seizure and detention of the footlocker . . . were sufficient to guard against any risk that evidence might be lost. With the footlocker safely immobilized, it was unreasonable to undertake the additional and greater intrusion of a search without a warrant. 433 U.S. at 13, 97 S.Ct. at 2484-2485. Central to this holding was the Court's realization, as we have previously mentioned, that luggage is a common repository for one's personal effects, and therefore is inevitably associated with the expectation of privacy. Arkansas v. Sanders, supra, 99 S.Ct. at 2592, citing United States v. Chadwick, supra, 433 U.S. at 13, 97 S.Ct. at 2484. Thus, [o]nce 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. United States v. Chadwick, supra at 15, 97 S.Ct. at 2485. [14] Accord, Preston v. United States, supra, 376 U.S. at 367, 84 S.Ct. at 883. From the record in the case sub judice, we cannot say that the briefcase was taken from D.A.V. at the time of his arrest and searched incident thereto. Given the barren record on this point, the government, which seeks the benefit of this exception to the warrant requirement, has not carried its burden of establishing its applicability.