Stoffle

Defendant was charged with cocaine possession. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11350.) After the magistrate granted defendant’s motion to suppress at the preliminary hearing, the superior court granted the People’s motion to reinstate the complaint. Eventually, defendant succeeded in convincing the superior court to grant his consolidated motion to suppress and motion to set aside the information; from this superior court decision the People appeal. The issue on appeal is whether the evidence was seized from the passenger compartment of defendant’s car as a search incident to arrest within the meaning of New York v. Belton (1981) 453 U.S. 454 [ 69 L.Ed.2d 768 , 101 S.Ct. 2860 ]. We conclude that defendant was placed under lawful custodial arrest when he was a recent occupant of his car. As an incident to that arrest, Officer Mertell was justified in contemporaneously searching the passenger compartment of defendant’s car, and in seizing evidence of narcotics found therein. We shall reverse the granting of both the motion to suppress and the motion to set aside the information.

Background

At around noon on May 25, 1988, defendant and his companion Shaw were drinking beer in a…