FRESNO, Calif. (KMJ) — The California Supreme Court has issued a unanimous ruling, stating that police are only allowed to conduct a search before making an arrest, if they have probable cause to make that arrest to begin with.
The ruling comes in a case involving a traffic stop in Torrance, in which a bicyclist was placed under arrest, only after police found child pornography on his phone.
The court says officers could not have arrested the man for any traffic violations, and because they had no probable cause for any other offense, the search that revealed the material was unlawful.
