10 March 2004

When a passenger in someone else's car makes furtive movements in the presence of an officer it does not establish probable cause for an arrest and search. The standard is furtive movement +. However, because the drugs would have been discovered anyway thru the application of the Pringle "arrest everybody in the car" standard when police found cocaine in the back seat they would have arrested the passenger and discovered the drugs in the passenger's pocket. So the trial court was correct when it allowed the drugs into evidence.

Copeland v. Commonwealth, VaApp 2004

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