According to the SCOTUS holding in Arizona v. Gant (2009), police may search a vehicle incident to a recent occupant’s arrest, only if the arrestee is within reaching distance of the passenger compartment at the time of the search, or if

there is reason to believe the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest

Explanation: Arizona v. Gant (2009), was a United States Supreme Court decision holding that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires law enforcement officers to eitherdemonstrate an actual and continuing threat to their safety posed by an arrestee, or a need to preserve evidence related to the crime of arrest from being tampered with by the arrestee

in order to justify a vehicular search without a warrant conducted after the vehicle's recent occupants have been arrested and secured.

The defendant in the case was Rodney Gant who was arrested in a friend's yard for driving with a suspended license. His vehicle was searched after he and his friends had been arrested and secured in police cars, upon which the officers found a weapon as well as a bag of cocaine. He was also charged with possession of a narcotic with intent to distribute.

Gant's lawyer, Thomas Jacobs argued and the court agreed that the search was unconstitutional and didn't fulfil either of the two conditions stated above for a warrantless search.