Legal Question in Criminal Law in Missouri

Re: searching a passanger

The area of law that your question touches upon is probably the most fact specific in US Judicial history.

If your specific situation were to be appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court, it would be nearly impossible to accurately predict the final determination. Some lower courts along the way will say the search was okay, others may not.

Generally speaking, if the driver gives an officer permission to search his vehicle, courts view that as permission to have the occupants get out, so that it may be thoroughly searched. When an officer removes the occupants of a traffic stop, they may pat them down to search for weapons. This is for the safety of the officers. If during that "pat down" the officer believes they feel something illegal, they may be authorized to search further, to determine if it is an illegal item. Most of the cases are argued over whether permission to search was really given, if the pat down was reasonable, if the percieved illegal item o give probable cause for further search, and if the further search was reasonable for the proposed purpose.

Those are all very fact specific determinations,. Given the general description in your questions, only a general answer is possible.

Good Luck