Michelle is driving at night when a policeman pulls her over for a blown taillight. When he approaches the car, he shines his flashlight into the car and sees a bag of white powder on the back seat. The officer orders Michelle out of the car and then reaches in to seize the bag. A quick examination leads him to believe that the bag contains cocaine. He arrests Michelle and takes her to the station. Was the officer’s search legal?

The officer conducted a legal search because he may look into the car and may use simple mechanical devices, such as a flashlight, to aid his search without a warrant

Explanation:

The officer conducted a legal search because he may look into the car and may use simple mechanical devices, such as a flashlight, to aid his search without a warrant which is why Police may often make plain view searches and may use ordinary mechanical devices which are ordinarily available to the public to carry out their search especially in a situation where the car is to dark for them to visibly see everything that the car contains which is why mechanical device such as flashlight or torchlight aid or assist them to vividly and visibly sees everything they needed to see when making a search.