Under Arizona v. Grant, when may a vehicle’s passenger compartment be searched after the driver is arrested?

• A. The arrestee is unsecured and within reaching distance of the interior at the time, or there is probable cause to believe evidence of the offense is in the vehicle.
• B. Only with a warrant
• C. Only if the driver consents
• D. Never after an arrest

Answer: (A)

After a driver is arrested, a vehicle search is allowed only under two circumstances. First, if the arrestee is unsecured and within reaching distance of the interior at the time of the search, officers may search the passenger compartment to protect safety and preserve potential evidence. Second, if there is probable cause to believe evidence of the offense is in the vehicle, a search may proceed based on that probable cause, even if the arrestee is no longer able to reach inside. These two conditions come from the Arizona v. Grant framework, which limits a search-incident-to-arrest of a vehicle to the moment the arrestee is unsecured and within reach, or to cases with probable cause that evidence is in the vehicle. Therefore, the best answer reflects that the passenger compartment may be searched under either of those two circumstances. The other options don’t fit the Grant rule: a warrant isn’t required in these specific incidents, consent is a separate exception but not the only route, and it’s not true that no searches are allowed after an arrest.