High court to rule on warrantless search of vehicle

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to rule on whether police officers are free to search a parked vehicle whenever they arrest a driver or a passenger.

Prosecutors, including Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, asked the high court to set “a clear, bright-line rule” that permits officers to search a vehicle whenever an arrest is made, even if the handcuffed person has been taken away.

In the past, the court has focused on the danger faced by officers when they stop a vehicle and make an arrest. In a 1981 decision, the court said officers may search a vehicle when they arrest an occupant so as to check for weapons. These searches were reasonable, the justices said, because the officers may be in danger if weapons are hidden in the vehicle. Most prosecutors and judges interpreted that decision as giving police ample authority to search vehicles after an arrest.

But the Arizona Supreme Court took a different view in a case in which Tucson police had arrested a man who was standing near his parked car.

Rodney Gant lived at a suspected drug house that had been under observation. Police knew he had an outstanding warrant for driving with a suspended license, and arrested him when he pulled up in his car. He was handcuffed outside his car and put in the back of a patrol car. Officers then searched his vehicle and found a gun and a bag of cocaine.

In a 3-2 decision, the Arizona high court threw out the evidence against Gant and said the search of his car was a violation of the 4th Amendment and its ban on “unreasonable searches and seizures.”

The majority said that since Gant was handcuffed in a patrol car, the officers faced no danger from weapons hidden in his car.

Officers could have obtained a search warrant, but only if they could show a magistrate that they had probable cause to believe drugs were in the car.

Arizona Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court last fall. He argued that the state high court’s opinion -- if allowed to stand -- sets “an unworkable and dangerous test” that would confuse police, prosecutors and judges.

Officers would be uncertain whether they could search a vehicle when the arrested occupant was outside the vehicle and handcuffed, he said.

The Los Angeles County district attorney and the National Assn. of Police Organizations also urged the court to take up Arizona vs. Gant and to clarify the law on vehicle searches.

The court was not expected to hear the case until the fall.

david.savage@latimes.com