FL1: Patdown for drugs permitted cutting hole in def’s underwear to retrieve that which wouldn’t fall out

The officer smelled the strong odor in defendant’s car and got him out. There was the strong odor on defendant’s person, too. A patdown revealed a lump under defendant’s shorts. The officer tried to shake it loose and couldn’t. He then cut a hole in defendant’s underwear to get it out. This “reach-in” was reasonable under all the circumstances. Hilliard v. State, 2019 Fla. App. LEXIS 18278 (Fla. 1st DCA Dec. 10, 2019):

Once Officer White failed to retrieve the contraband by shaking Appellant’s shorts, he could lawfully have used the “reach-in” method to retrieve the contraband. See Powell v. State, 898 N.E.2d 328, 335 (Ind. Ct. App. 2008) (finding a search reasonable where an officer used a pocket knife to retrieve contraband from a defendant’s underwear where he could not figure out another way to get it out and none of the defendant’s skin was exposed); Partlow v. State, 199 Md. App. 624, 24 A.3d 122, 133-34 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 2011) (upholding a search where the officer was unable to retrieve contraband from defendant’s underwear, so he used a pocket knife to remove a portion of the defendant’s underwear which left part of his body exposed); Harden v. Flowers, No. 01 C 7878, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7213, 2003 WL 1989616, at *5 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 29, 2003) (finding a search reasonable where an officer pulled the defendant’s pants down after he was unable to retrieve the contraband and sliced a hole in the defendant’s underwear).