RI: Protective sweep of car valid despite handcuffing

A protective weapons search under Long is not limited like Gant where defendant not yet arrested yet handcuffed. His furtive movements, hiding his hands, loose bullets in the car, and saying he had no weapons when he had a knife was reasonable suspicion. Long permits this protective weapons search. State v. Santos, 64 A.3d 314 (R.I. 2013):

Santos argues that, even if there was a reasonable belief that he was armed and dangerous, there could be no reasonable belief that he had a present ability to obtain a weapon because he was handcuffed and secured in Officer Dolock’s cruiser. However, in Long, the United States Supreme Court recognized that “investigative detentions involving suspects in vehicles are especially fraught with danger to police officers”: a suspect could break away from the officer and retrieve a weapon in the vehicle or may be permitted to re-enter the vehicle before the investigation is over and gain access to a weapon. Long, 463 U.S. at 1047, 1051-52; see Terry, 392 U.S. at 24, 30 (explaining that “where a police officer observes unusual conduct which leads him reasonably to conclude in light of his experience that criminal activity may be afoot,” the officer may briefly stop the suspicious person and make “reasonable inquiries” aimed at confirming or dispelling his suspicions, and if there is a reasonable belief that the individual the officer is investigating is “armed and presently dangerous,” the officer may conduct a pat-down search to determine whether the suspect is in fact carrying a weapon).

Certainly the underlying policy of protecting police officers that animates the Long decision applies equally here. The record reveals that Officer Dolock’s investigation regarding Santos’ possible intoxication was not complete when she placed him in the cruiser. Indeed, she testified that she informed him that he was not under arrest at that time. After Officer Dolock conducted her search of the vehicle and secured the revolver, she removed Santos from the cruiser so that she could continue her investigation of his potential intoxication by administering field sobriety tests. Had Officer Dolock continued her investigation without checking the interior of his vehicle for weapons, the potential existed that Santos could break away from her control and gain access to the revolver secreted in his vehicle. See Long, 463 U.S. at 1051-52 (search of passenger compartment for weapons authorized, because Terry suspect may break away from police control and retrieve weapon from automobile); Milette, 727 A.2d at 1239. In addition to the danger that Santos might break away before the conclusion of the field sobriety tests, there was also a possibility that Santos would return to his vehicle and secure the revolver if Officer Dolock elected to release him after administering the tests to him. See Long, 463 U.S. at 1051-52 (when a police officer compels the exit of an individual from a vehicle in order to conduct a Terry frisk, the officer remains vulnerable to the possibility that the individual, if not arrested, will be free to retrieve any weapons within his car); Milette, 727 A.2d at 1239. Accordingly, we hold that the search of Santos’ vehicle was constitutional as a protective search for weapons.