Stier

Two police officers stopped a truck for violating the Vehicle Code requirements for mud flaps and to investigate whether the backseat passenger was wearing a seatbelt. Before the stop, the officers had been informed by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents the vehicle had been involved in a narcotics transaction. After one of the officers found narcotics during a consensual search of the front seat passenger, the other officer ordered the driver to get out of the truck. Because of the driver’s height, the officer handcuffed the driver and then obtained the driver’s consent to be searched. The officer discovered a large amount of methamphetamine in the right front pocket of the driver’s jeans. The primary question presented in this appeal is whether the methamphetamine evidence should have been suppressed. We conclude that the evidence should have been suppressed because the prosecution did not establish the handcuffing of the driver was reasonably necessary to the detention and, consequently, did not establish the driver’s subsequent consent to be searched was voluntary. We, therefore, reverse the trial court’s judgment.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The prosecution…