State v. LeBlanc

ORDER

Executing a search warrant at a house in Pawtucket, the police surprised the defendant, Peter LeBlanc, while he was sitting fully clothed on a toilet and flushing bags of suspicious packets down the hopper. Having caught the defendant in this compromising posture, the arresting officer quickly deduced that the defendant was attempting to dispose of controlled substances (as was later confirmed by testing). Discommoding the defendant, the officer deftly fetched the swirling drug bags from the toilet bowl before they could disappear. The trial justice who heard this evidence was reasonably…