Also known as: immediate controls
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
The physical proximity of a land possessor to a dangerous force on the premises such that the possessor can exercise reasonable care to prevent harm. This proximity triggers a duty to control the force or warn known trespassers in dangerous proximity when the possessor knows or has reason to know of their presence.
The physical proximity of a land possessor to a dangerous force on the premises such that the possessor can exercise reasonable care to prevent harm. This proximity triggers a duty to control the force or warn known trespassers in dangerous proximity when the possessor knows or has reason to know of their presence.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The area within an arrestee's reach, often called the wingspan, from which the arrestee might gain access to a weapon or destructible evidence. Officers may search this area incident to a lawful custodial arrest without a warrant.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The area within an arrestee's reach, often called the wingspan, from which the arrestee might gain access to a weapon or destructible evidence. Officers may search this area incident to a lawful custodial arrest without a warrant.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
Ike Ingram maintained a high-pressure steam valve on his industrial property. Knowing that local youths frequently crossed the land as a shortcut, Ike left the valve unsecured and unmonitored. When a trespassing child approached the valve and suffered severe burns, Ike's failure to control the force or provide warning exposed him to liability for the resulting harm.
Officers arrested Igor Ito at his hospital workstation and handcuffed him several feet from the medication cart. They searched the cart drawers within Ito's former reach and recovered evidence. The search stayed within the area from which Ito could have accessed a weapon or evidence at the time of arrest.
After arresting Isabelle Inman inside her apartment, officers conducted a limited sweep of an adjacent bedroom. They possessed specific facts indicating another armed individual might be hiding there. The sweep was confined to spaces where a person could be found and did not extend to areas under Inman's immediate control.
Police arrested Ibrahim Iqbal beside his truck and searched the passenger compartment for weapons. The area searched was within the zone from which Iqbal could have reached a firearm while standing next to the open door.
Officers arrested Ismael Ibrahim in the living room of his house. They searched only the area immediately around the arrest site rather than other rooms. Items found outside that zone required a separate warrant for seizure.
Officers arrested India Inoue in her kitchen and handcuffed her. They searched only the counter and drawers within her immediate reach. A locked bedroom closet beyond that zone was left untouched pending a warrant.
It restricts the search to the arrestee's person and the area from which the arrestee might reach a weapon or evidence. Remote areas such as a locked cabinet across the room or a nurse's station down the hall fall outside this zone once the arrestee is secured.
Supporting sources
No. The search must be substantially contemporaneous in time and place with the arrest and confined to the arrestee's immediate control. Hours later at a distant government facility the justifications of officer safety and evidence preservation no longer apply.
Supporting sources
The wingspan travels with the arrestee. Officers may follow and search areas within the new immediate control, but they may not search the entire original premises.
Supporting sources
…when an arrest is made, it is reasonable for the arresting officer to search "the arrestee's person and the area within his immediate control' — construing that phrase to mean the area from within which he might gain possession of a weapon or destructible evidence." 395 U. S., at 763. We reasoned that "[a] gun on a table or in a…