SAN DIEGO DISTRICT ATTORNEY The Fourth Amendment and ...

transporting and even booking a person for a
fine-only offense, even if contrary to state
law, is not a Fourth Amendment violation
and thus does not subject the resulting
evidence to suppression. However, the
Court’s assumption is still valid that a
“custodial arrest,” involving the
transportation of the arrestee to a police
station, is a necessary prerequisite to a
lawful “search incident to arrest.”
Transporting an arrested minor (even if for only a “status offense”
such as a curfew violation or truancy), whether the minor is to be
transported home (In re Demetrius A. (1989) 208 Cal.App.3 rd
1245; prowling.), or to a police station (In re Charles C. (1999) 76
Cal.App.4 th 420; curfew.), justifies a search incident to arrest. (See
also In re Humberto O. (2000) 80 Cal.App.4 th 237; truancy.)
In Humberto O., the juvenile was taken into custody for a
truancy violation. However, it was noted in the decision
that “the officers planned to cuff defendant’s hands behind
his back, put him in the patrol car, and transport him to
school.” (pg. 240.) Education Code §§ 48264 and 48265
require that the minor be transported to his parents or to
school (among other choices). (pg. 241, fn. 2.) “The
limited nature of a section 48264 arrest requires that the
minor be transported to school, as the officers here planned
to do.” (pg. 244.) Searching the backpack he was carrying
incident to this custodial arrest, was upheld.
In In re Demetrius A., supra, without discussing the issue
of the necessity for a transportation, it was noted that the
minor was arrested for prowling and was going to be
transported home. A search incident to such a custodial
arrest was lawful.
© 2011 Robert C. Phillips. All rights reserved
In In re Charles C., supra, the minor was “taken into
temporary custody” (i.e., “arrested,” see pg. 425, fn. 3.)
and transported to the police station where he was searched
“incident to the arrest.” The search was upheld, holding
that it was irrelevant that the search was not conducted until
after the transportation. Without further discussing the
issue, the Court did note that citing (albeit for an infraction)
at the scene and releasing the subject does not justify a
search incident to such a citation. (pg. 424, fn. 2, citing
Knowles v. Iowa (1998) 525 U.S. 113 [142 L.Ed.2 nd 492].)
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