D.N.M.: Flight from a pat down justifies arrest and search incident

“The initial encounter, including the officers’ questions to the Defendant, was justified under the community caretaker exception to the Fourth Amendment. However, that initial encounter quickly gave way to a pat-down search that was justified for officer safety under … Terry v. Ohio, …. Defendant’s attempt to conceal from the officers the fact that he had a gun and his subsequent attempt to flee the pat-down justified his arrest. The drug evidence found in Defendant’s jacket was properly discovered in a search pursuant to that arrest.” United States v. Elliott, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151887 (D. N.M. Sept. 19, 2017).*

The record supports that the search was consensual by the totality of the circumstances. United States v. Malone, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151970 (W.D. Tenn. July 7, 2017),* adopted, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151447 (W.D. Tenn. Sept. 19, 2017).*