Quiroga

MEMORANDUM **

Luis Carlos Quiroga, Jr. (“Quiroga”) appeals the denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained during a warrantless search of the trunk of his car. Because the parties are familiar with the facts, we restate them here only as necessary to this disposition.

Following an altercation between Quiroga and Nancy Estrada, the mother of his child, Quiroga seized the child and left in his car. Estrada reported the incident to Seattle Police who began a search for the child. Later that morning, Quiroga and Estrada had another altercation and Quiroga fled. Acting on information broadcast to officers, including that Quiroga had taken his one-and-a-half year old daughter with him, was somewhere with the child in a vehicle, may have been under the influence of some drug, and that they had probable cause to arrest him, officers made a felony traffic stop and placed him under arrest. When an officer asked Quiroga where the child was, he refused to respond. The officers cleared the passenger compartment of the car and then opened the trunk where they found a sawed-off shotgun.

Quiroga was indicted on one count of unlawful possession of a short-barreled shotgun in violation of…