People v. Belton

In People v. Belton, 55 N.Y.2d 49 (1982) the Court described the search incident to arrest exception, which "is grounded in protecting the safety of the arresting officer by permitting him to search for and seize weapons where there is reason to fear for his safety and in preventing the person arrested from destroying evidence of criminal involvement by permitting the arresting officer to search for and seize such evidence." In Belton, supra, at 53-55, the Court of Appeals further explained that: A motorist stopped for a traffic infraction may not be searched unless when the vehicle is stopped there are reasonable grounds for believing the driver guilty of a crime, as distinct from a traffic offense. . . . However, a valid arrest for a crime authorizes a warrantless search for a reasonable time and to a reasonable extent of a vehicle . . . which the arrested person is driving or in which he is a passenger when the circumstances give reason to believe that the vehicle or its visible contents may be related to the crime for which the arrest is being made (as possibly containing contraband or as having been used in the commission of the crime) or there is reason to believe that a weapon may be discovered or access to means of escape thwarted.