Pugh

Petitioner seeks prohibition for two purposes: (1) To suppress the admission in evidence of six amphetamine tablets which were seized by law enforcement officers as a result of an alleged illegal search, and (2) to restrain the superior court from conducting any further criminal proceedings upon an information charging him with unlawful possession of dangerous drugs, to wit, the aforesaid pills. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11910.) Extraordinary relief was sought in this forum following denial of petitioner’s motion to suppress evidence (Pen. Code, § 1538.5) in the superior court.

About 1 a.m. on January 29, 1970, two highway patrol officers on routine patrol duty stopped a Dodge Charger being driven by Elsnor Howard Lupo. Petitioner, the owner of the car, was seated in the right front seat. After interviewing the driver briefly, the officers concluded that Lupo was intoxicated. While Officer Wilburn administered a series of field sobriety tests, Officer Warrick directed petitioner to remain seated in the car and kept him under surveillance from a vantage point at the right rear of the car. Following administration of the simple sobriety tests, Lupo was arrested for driving…