Tobin

*636 Opinion

After denial of his Penal Code section 1538.5 motion to suppress evidence, Wayne Tobin pleaded guilty to transportation of cocaine. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11352.) On March 28, 1989, the court suspended imposition of sentence and placed appellant on probation for three years. He contends that a warrantless search of his person violated his constitutional right to privacy under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments because the officers did not give him the option not to be searched. We find that the officers acted properly and affirm the judgment.

The Facts

At about 7:30 p.m. on New Year’s Day in 1988, Officer Hakeem Shabazz 2 and a trainee officer stopped a northbound vehicle on Highway 680 for a false evidence of registration. Appellant was a passenger seated in the right rear of the vehicle. Another passenger was seated in the front. It developed that the vehicle had a false registration, the driver had only a suspended driver’s license, and the front seat passenger had no license. Officer Shabazz did not ask appellant about a license, because the officer knew appellant did not have one from an encounter earlier in the day when appellant was taken to the county…

I respectfully dissent. In my view, this case is controlled by People v. Scott (1976) 16 Cal.3d 242 [ 128 Cal.Rptr. 39 , 546 P.2d 327 ]. Stare decisis requires that we follow it. (Auto Equity Sales, Inc. v. Superior Court (1962) 57 Cal.2d 450, 455 [ 20 Cal.Rptr. 321 , 369 P.2d 937 ]; People v. Brown (1987) 193 Cal.App.3d 957, 962 [ 238 Cal.Rptr. 697 ].)

In Scott , the California Supreme Court considered whether “a police officer who proposes to give a private citizen a lift in his patrol car can lawfully subject him to a nonconsensual pat-down search for weapons when the individual is not under arrest and the officer has no duty to transport him and no reason to believe he is armed and dangerous.” (16 Cal.3d at pp. 244-245, italics added.) The court held that an officer may not conduct a pat-down search in these circumstances. (Id., at p. 249.) Nevertheless, the court recognized that cases will arise where the police, acting out of compassion, may offer rides to citizens although not absolutely required to do so. In order to “accommodate the state’s interest in the safety of police officers who volunteer to give rides not required by their duty, and the individual’s right to be…

BARRY-DEAL, J.

After denial of his Penal Code section 1538.5 motion to suppress evidence, Wayne Tobin pleaded guilty to transportation of cocaine. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11352.) On March 28, 1989, the court suspended imposition of sentence and placed appellant on probation for three years. He contends that a warrantless search of his person violated his constitutional right to privacy under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments because the officers did not give him the option not to be searched. We find that the officers acted properly and affirm the judgment.

At about 7:30 p.m. on New Year's Day in 1988, Officer Hakeem Shabazz [2] and a trainee officer stopped a northbound vehicle on Highway 680 for a false evidence of registration. Appellant was a passenger seated in the right rear of the vehicle. Another passenger was seated in the front. It developed that the vehicle had a false registration, the driver had only a suspended driver's license, and the front seat passenger had no license. Officer Shabazz did not ask appellant about a license, because the officer knew appellant did not have one from an encounter earlier in the day when appellant was taken to the county…