United States v. Gary Lewis Gallop

The government appeals an order suppressing certain stolen money orders upon the motion of Gary Lewis Gallop. After an earlier remand from this court, the district court held a hearing and found that Gallop had reasonably appeared to police officers to be “incapacitated by alcohol” within the meaning of Wash.Rev.Code Ann. § 70.-96A.120(2), and thus was properly detained under that noncriminal, protective custody statute. The only remaining issues arise from the search that resulted in the seizure of the money orders.

Gallop, in the company of Frances Jo Connors, was evicted from a cocktail lounge at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after Connors became abusive and assaulted a waitress. Port of Seattle police officers decided that the couple, including the semirecumbent Gallop, were candidates for detoxification custody under the cited state law. The officers placed both under temporary detention. The officers “pat-searched” the two and placed them in a holding cell to await transportation to a detoxification facility. The pat-down for weapons was permissible. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 30 , 88 S.Ct. 1868 , 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1967).

In the course of the pat-down, the police…