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Commonwealth v. Wood6/4/1999
460. Applying the rationale of these cases to the facts here, we are convinced that the search of Wood's vehicle fits within this exception to the warrant requirement.
Despite our Conclusion that the search was valid under the previously cited cases, we deem it important to distinguish the rationale at work in Clark, which appears to provide support for the circuit court's exclusion of the evidence. The Clark court invalidated an automobile search which followed an arrest for minor traffic violations, a factor which the court utilized to remove the case from the purview of Belton on the basis that such offenses do not ordinarily give rise to a custodial arrest. In explaining its apparent deviation from the holdings of Belton and Ramsey, the court expressed concern that the search was not genuinely incident to the arrest as it occurred some distance from the vehicle and after the elapse of some forty minutes from the time of arrest. These circumstances convinced the Clark court that the safety and evidentiary rationales for the "incident to arrest" exception had become so attenuated as to make the exception inapplicable.
Thus, in a typical arrest situation such as in the case before us, we must adhere to the Belton rule that a warrantless search of an arrestee and his vehicle is to be upheld provided the arrest is proper and the scope of the search does not exceed that which is necessary to protect society's interest in the safety of police officers (and third persons) and in the preservation of evidence. Unlike the arrest in Clark, there is no question that arrest is typical for the offense of driving on a license suspended for DUI. The search in this case immediately followed the arrest and there was the additional concern of a passenger in the vehicle. Therefore, although Wood, who had been removed from the vehicle prior to the search, posed no immediate threat to the officer or others, evidentiary concerns remained.
Accordingly, because we believe that the search of Wood's vehicle falls within the "incident to arrest" exception articulated in Belton and Ramsey, we reverse the order of the Warren Circuit Court and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
ALL CONCUR.
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