Commonwealth v. Rose

As the trial judge observed, once the single occupant of the car was manacled in the police cruiser, there was no longer a basis for concern that the defendant would use anything in his car to resist arrest or to escape. Compare Commonwealth v. Brillante, 399 Mass. 152, 155 (1987), and Commonwealth v. Lucido, 18 Mass. App. Ct. 941, 942-943 (1984), in which potentially hostile persons not under restraint had access to the car in question. Indeed, the Commonwealth does not argue otherwise; rather, it contends that the warrantless search was lawful because its purpose was to seize evidence that…