Also known as: within her immediate control · within their immediate control · within the immediate control · Chimel area · wingspan rule
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The spatial zone surrounding an arrestee from which he might gain possession of a weapon or destructible evidence. Officers may search that zone without a warrant to protect safety and preserve evidence.
City police arrested Leo backstage and handcuffed him next to a folding table. Officers searched Leo's person, his nearby backpack, and the table surface. They also opened a locked road case several feet away and entered a separate dressing room down the hallway. Only the first three searches stayed inside the zone Leo could reach.
Officers arrested Warren Woods for driving with a suspended license and removed him from the car. They then searched the passenger compartment and found a firearm under the seat. The search occurred after Woods was secured and no longer able to reach inside the vehicle.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Police arrested Willow West and seized her smartphone from her pocket. Officers later searched the phone's digital contents without a warrant. The data inside the device lay beyond any area Willow could access once handcuffed.
Officers stopped Wesley Wong for a traffic violation and observed a knife on the floorboard. They ordered him out of the car and patted down the passenger compartment. The knife remained within the area Wesley could have reached while still inside the vehicle.
Officers arrested the driver of a borrowed car and searched the glove compartment. Passenger Whitney White later sought to suppress the items found there. Whitney had no property interest in the car and no ability to control the glove box from the back seat.
Officers arrested Wren Wright in the living room of her home. They later descended to the basement and opened a locked trunk. The trunk sat far outside the space Wren could reach while handcuffed upstairs.
Yes. Once officers handcuff and secure the arrestee, locations that were previously reachable often fall outside the permissible zone because the arrestee can no longer gain access to a weapon or evidence.
No. A locked container several feet from a handcuffed arrestee lies beyond immediate control and requires a warrant or another exception.
No. The doctrine limits the search to the arrestee's person and the area within immediate control. It does not authorize a general search of rooms or containers beyond that zone.
A search loses its connection when officers remove the arrestee, tow the vehicle, and conduct the search hours later at a different location, because the arrestee can no longer reach the area.
…we held that 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…