DC: Defendant was still a “recent occupant” although car was locked and he was handcuffed, based on facts

Defendant was a “recent occupant” of his car, although it was locked and he was handcuffed, when he was arrested standing outside it where it was reasonable to believe that there was contraband in the car from the blunt he dropped. Dawkins v. United States, 987 A.2d 470 (D.C. App. 2010):

Under the D.C. Circuit Court’s reasoning in Mapp and Booker, appellant was a “recent occupant,” pursuant to Thornton’s test of “temporal or spatial relationship to the car at the time of the arrest and search.” 541 U.S. at 622. Appellant was leaning against his vehicle when the police approached and arrested him. The undercover officer saw appellant open the car door, briefly lean inside, close the door, and resume leaning against the car. The police searched appellant’s car immediately after the arrest — which had happened within “a matter of feet” of the car — whereupon appellant exclaimed, “Why are you guys going to go in my car?” A sufficiently proximate relationship existed between appellant and his car so as to establish that he was a “recent occupant” at the time he was arrested.

But, as the Supreme Court said in Gant, that is not enough, and the warrantless search of an automobile incident to arrest is constitutionally permissible only if the police reasonably believe either that the suspect could have such access to his car as would pose a risk to the safety of the officers or potential destruction of evidence, as permitted by Chimel, or that evidence of the offense for which he was arrested could be found in the car, pursuant to Thornton. 129 S.Ct. at 1719. Here, appellant was arrested for possession of marijuana — for which the police had probable cause — after seeing him drop a blunt on the ground. The police had noticed that the blunt was unevenly rolled, which suggested that appellant had manipulated the cigar to smoke marijuana. We do not think that Chimel provides a basis to search the car incident to arrest because the car was locked (and appellant handcuffed) when he was arrested, and therefore did not pose a risk to the safety of the officers or the integrity of any evidence. But Thornton does furnish that basis, because having observed appellant lean into the car and close the door shortly before he was seen with a marijuana blunt, the officers reasonably could have believed that appellant had additional marijuana or drug paraphernalia in the car such that it was “reasonable to believe evidence relevant to the crime of arrest might be found in the vehicle.” Gant, 129 S.Ct. at 1719.