After arresting a suspect, officers may search his person for weapons or evidence without a warrant or any further justification.
uncertain
officers → arrest → warrant
But they may go only so far.
uncertain
they → go → ?
To search his home, car, or cellphone, they ordinarily need to get a warrant backed by probable cause.
asserted
they → search → cause
Today, we recognize another such limit on searches incident to arrest: strip searches.
asserted
we → recognize → arrest
Outside of jails or prisons, officers need a search warrant (or exigent circumstances) supported by probable cause to believe that a strip search will reveal weapons, contraband, or evidence under the arrestee's clothes.
asserted
search → need → clothes
Thus, the officers here violated the Fourth Amendment by strip-searching an arrestee without a warrant or exigent circumstances.
asserted
officers → violate → warrant
But because that limit was not clearly established at the time, qualified immunity shields them from liability….
asserted
immunity → establish → liability
[I.] POLICE SEARCH BEATTY THREE TIMES
One afternoon, police officers Clinton Gardner and Calvin Irvin were patrolling an area of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, known for drug trafficking.
asserted
officers → search → trafficking
They noticed Kyle Beatty and his girlfriend in a car, followed them to a gas station, and waited for them to head into the store.
asserted
them → notice → store
Gardner then approached the car.
asserted
Gardner → approach → car
He smelled marijuana through an open window and spotted a burnt marijuana joint in the ashtray as well as marijuana flakes on the floor.
asserted
He → smell → floor
So he headed toward the store to investigate.
asserted
he → head → store
Beatty was first searched inside the store.
asserted
Beatty → search → store
As Gardner approached him, Beatty put his hands up and asked if the officer wanted to search him.
asserted
officer → approach → him
Gardner obliged and patted down his waistband, pockets, legs, ankles, and groin but found nothing.
asserted
Gardner → oblige → nothing
Beatty was searched a second time outside.
asserted
Beatty → search → ?
After exiting the store together, Beatty and Gardner went back to the car.
asserted
Beatty → exit → car
Gardner warned the couple that unless its owner, Beatty's girl-friend, consented to a car search, the officers would have it towed and apply for a search warrant.
asserted
it → warn → warrant
Though she consented at first, she started disobeying an officer's commands.
asserted
she → consent → commands
Beatty then told his girlfriend to revoke her consent to search and the officers handcuffed him, turning him face-down onto the hood of the car.
asserted
officers → tell → car
Irvin searched Beatty's waist, pockets, groin, and ankles and removed his wallet, but found no contraband.
asserted
Irvin → search → contraband
After this search, the officers put him in the back of their squad car and waited for a tow truck.
asserted
officers → put → truck
While waiting for the tow, the officers tried to get Beatty to identify himself.
asserted
Beatty → wait → himself
Gardner threatened that, until Beatty gave his full name, he would be arraigned as John Doe and could sit in jail.
uncertain
he → threaten → jail
They could "play that game."
uncertain
They → play → game
Beatty was searched a third time after the officers drove him down to the police station.
asserted
officers → search → station
The officers brought him there solely to strip-search him, but they found nothing….
asserted
they → bring → nothing
[II.] THE STOP AND FIRST TWO SEARCHES WERE REASONABLE …
As a rule of thumb, the Supreme Court has held, searches must first be authorized by search warrants.
asserted
searches → hold → warrants
When he first encounters a suspect, an officer who has reasonable suspicion may frisk the suspect's outer clothes for weapons to protect his own safety.
uncertain
who → encounter → safety
After a lawful arrest, an officer may search the arrestee's person for weapons and evidence.
uncertain
officer → search → weapons
Upon booking an arrestee at a police station, an officer may search his person to inventory and safeguard his possessions before jailing him.
uncertain
officer → book → him
And at the end of the process, guards may strip-search inmates before putting them into the general population of a jail or prison.
uncertain
guards → strip → jail
Plus, at any time during the process, valid consent makes a warrantless search reasonable.
asserted
search → make → process
Beatty consented to the pat-down, so it was reasonable for Gardner to perform one.
asserted
Gardner → consent → one
And Gardner was entitled to stop Beatty in the first place because he had reasonable suspicion.
asserted
he → entitle → suspicion
Indeed, Gardner had not only reasonable suspicion, but probable cause to suspect Beatty of a crime: The officer had smelled and seen traces of marijuana in the car, and possessing even a small amount of that drug is a state-law crime.
asserted
possessing → have → drug
The second warrantless search, on the hood of Beatty's car, was reasonable as a search incident to arrest.
asserted
search → arrest → incident
Both parties agree that Beatty was under arrest.
asserted
Beatty → agree → arrest
As discussed, the officers had probable cause to believe that he possessed marijuana.
asserted
he → discuss → marijuana
[III.] STRIP SEARCHES EXCEED THE SCOPE OF SEARCHES INCIDENT TO ARREST
The difficulty lies with the third search.
asserted
difficulty → excee → search
…and 49 more, not listed.
The Aporia