OH5: Not unreasonable to deny passenger permission to retrieve purse before dog sniff of car

The smell of burning marijuana was probable cause for a car search. The officer’s refusal to let the passenger retrieve her purse from the car before the search did not violate the Fourth Amendment. State v. Eiler, 2016-Ohio-224, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 198 (5th Dist. Jan. 21, 2016).

Defendant was stopped because of an expired tag, so the pretext argument fails. The officer learned, running the tags, the vehicle was involved in an attempted murder, and that justified further detention. “Like Rodriguez, Officer McConnell conducted a routine traffic stop and a dog-sniff search of the Defendant’s car. Unlike Rodriguez, the police had grounds to expand the scope of the search. Officer McConnell received a police report stating that Mr. Waters’ red Nissan 200sx coupe was a ‘felony vehicle’ and that its occupants were armed and dangerous and wanted in connection with an attempted murder.” United States v. Waters, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175341 (D.Nev. June 29, 2015).*