S.D.N.Y.: Arrest for avoiding subway fare led to inevitably finding gun; good explanation of analytical steps

Officers had probable cause to stop defendant for using the service gate at the Bronx 233d St. subway station without paying. He was a frequent flyer, as it were, and that led to a custodial arrest. He had a knife clipped to his pocket which they removed from him. A plastic bag in his hands was also removed from him, and he was transported to the precinct house in a car with others. The court gives an excellent explication of why search incident of the bag wasn’t valid, nor was there exigency for an earlier search, but that a proper inventory at the precinct would have inevitably occurred resulting in the finding of defendant’s firearm in the bag. Therefore, the gun is not suppressed. United States v. Cancel, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31520 (S.D.N.Y. March 9, 2016).

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