Commonwealth v. Williams

KELLY, Judge:

In this appeal we are called upon to determine whether a police officer may formally arrest an individual whom the police officer has viewed committing a summary offense. The legality of the arrest is relevant to the derivative question of whether a search incident to the arrest was permitted under the circumstances. We find both the arrest and the search to have been lawful and affirm.

The relevant factual and procedural history may be summarized as follows. In March of 1987, at approximately 11:30 p.m., Officer James Brice of the Borough of Donora Police Department encountered a…