United States v. Perez ( 2020 )


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  •           United States Court of Appeals
    For the First Circuit
    No. 19-1950
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
    Appellee,
    v.
    ANDRES PEREZ,
    Defendant, Appellant.
    APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
    FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
    [Hon. Richard G. Stearns, U.S. District Judge]
    Before
    Torruella, Lynch, and Lipez,
    Circuit Judges.
    Daniel J. Cloherty, by appointment of the Court, with whom
    Maria Davis and Todd & Weld LLP were on brief, for appellant.
    Alexia R. De Vincentis, Assistant United States Attorney,
    with whom Andrew E. Lelling, United States Attorney, was on brief,
    for appellee.
    October 9, 2020
    LYNCH, Circuit Judge.                The defendant, Andres Perez,
    appeals from the district court's denial of a motion to suppress
    drug evidence which was seized without a warrant as a result of an
    automobile stop and drug evidence from a subsequent visual body
    cavity    search    conducted    at       the   Revere     police    station.       The
    defendant    argues    that     the    police      officers     lacked     reasonable
    suspicion to perform the initial stop of his vehicle and the
    requisite level of suspicion to perform the visual body cavity
    search of his person and so violated his rights under the Fourth
    and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.                         We
    hold that the facts establish that the police had reasonable
    suspicion    to    perform    the     automobile      stop     and   particularized
    reasonable suspicion to perform the visual body cavity search.                       We
    affirm.
    I.
    A.   Facts
    On the morning of October 31, 2017, Lieutenant Maria
    Lavita    and     Detective   Douglas       Zingali      of    the   Revere     Police
    Department were driving in an unmarked police cruiser through
    Revere,    Massachusetts.           Lt.    Lavita    had      twenty-two    years    of
    experience with the Revere Police Department, including experience
    with drug distribution crimes and undercover drug buys during her
    years as a detective.           She was also the head of the Criminal
    Investigation Division at the Revere Police Department, which
    - 2 -
    included the drug crime unit.           Det. Zingali had twenty-one years
    of experience with the Revere Police Department, including six
    years as a detective.
    As the officers were driving south on a residential
    street near Route 1A, they observed a white male pacing back and
    forth along the street and talking on a cell phone.              The officers'
    attention was drawn to the unidentified man because they believed
    he was inappropriately dressed in shorts and a T-shirt given the
    cool weather and time of year.           The officers testified that the
    man appeared agitated and kept looking down the side streets as
    though he was waiting for somebody or giving directions.
    The officers observed the man turn hurriedly onto one of
    the side streets.       They saw the man lean into the passenger side
    window of a parked brown Mercedes for no more than fifteen seconds
    and then walk away.       The officers could not see whether anything
    was exchanged between the man and the vehicle's occupants, nor
    could they see anything in the man's hands as he walked away from
    the Mercedes.       But based on their training and experience, the
    officers believed that a street-level drug transaction had just
    transpired.
    The Mercedes immediately drove off as the man walked
    away and the officers decided to follow the vehicle.                   As the
    officers followed in their unmarked cruiser, the Mercedes made a
    series   of    turns   onto   various    streets   until   the    vehicle   had
    - 3 -
    basically traveled in a circle.             This unusual route, together with
    the vehicle's strict adherence to the motor vehicle laws, led the
    officers to believe that the driver of the Mercedes was aware that
    he was being followed by police.                  The officers activated their
    lights and sirens and the Mercedes pulled over into a residential
    driveway.
    The officers parked behind the Mercedes and got out of
    the cruiser.        As they approached the Mercedes, the officers saw
    the driver and passenger exchange cell phones in the vehicle. Det.
    Zingali approached the driver's side and asked the driver for his
    license     and    registration,       while      Lt.   Lavita    approached    the
    passenger's side to speak to the passenger.                      The driver, who
    identified        himself   as    Andres     Perez,     provided     the    vehicle
    registration and stated that he did not have his license with him.
    Det. Zingali asked Perez why he had pulled into the driveway, and
    Perez answered that he was visiting a friend at that house and
    provided a name for the "friend."
    The officers radioed the dispatch center to request the
    status of Perez's license and registration.                   The dispatch center
    informed them that Perez's license had been revoked.                 The officers
    called for a marked police cruiser to place Perez under arrest for
    operating after revocation.            When the marked cruiser arrived, Det.
    Zingali   ordered      Perez     out   of   the    Mercedes    and   Det.   Zingali
    conducted a pat frisk of Perez. Det. Zingali discovered some money
    - 4 -
    and other items but found no weapons or drugs from the pat frisk.
    As that was happening, the passenger, Cesar Alicea, suddenly jumped
    out of the passenger side of the vehicle and fled.         Lt. Lavita and
    one of the officers who had arrived in the marked cruiser pursued
    Alicea on foot while Det. Zingali handcuffed Perez and placed him
    in the back of the marked cruiser.         As they were running, the
    backup officer saw Alicea reach into his waistband and toss an
    object over a fence into a residential backyard.             The officer
    placed Alicea under arrest.
    Detective Lieutenant Robert Impemba arrived to help the
    officers search for the object that Alicea had thrown over the
    fence.    Lt. Impemba was a supervisor of the Narcotics and Gang
    Unit of the Revere Police Department and was also a task force
    officer assigned to the FBI North Shore Gang Task Force, with about
    ten years of experience in gang and drug investigations.             Lt.
    Impemba recovered a loaded semiautomatic firearm and ammunition
    from a garden in one of the yards near where Alicea had thrown the
    object.   The condition of the soil and the gun indicated that the
    gun had not been there very long.
    After   Alicea   had   been    arrested   and    the   firearm
    recovered, the other officers returned to the Mercedes.              Lt.
    Impemba saw Perez in the back of the marked cruiser and recognized
    him from a previous drug investigation.      Lt. Impemba had arrested
    Perez for distribution of crack cocaine and heroin after undercover
    - 5 -
    purchases had been made from him on numerous occasions.                       Lt.
    Impemba also knew Perez to be an affiliate of the drug-distributing
    East Side Money Gang out of Chelsea, Massachusetts.
    Perez and Alicea were transported to the Revere police
    station for booking while Lt. Lavita and Det. Zingali awaited the
    arrival of a K-9 narcotics dog to search the Mercedes for evidence
    of drug distribution.          During that vehicle search, the officers
    recovered a small, clear plastic baggie containing a white, rock-
    like substance from the floor between the driver's side door and
    seat.      The officers believed the white substance to be crack
    cocaine.      Lt.    Impemba    testified    that,   based   on   the    single
    distribution-size      baggie    recovered    from   the   vehicle      and   his
    experience, Perez likely would have been carrying numerous baggies
    packaged for distribution.          The parties agree that three cell
    phones were also recovered during the search of the vehicle.                  The
    officers discovered a revoked license plate in the trunk of the
    Mercedes.
    Lt. Impemba booked Perez at the Revere police station
    with Det. Zingali and one other uniformed officer present.               During
    the booking process, $269 in various denominations were removed
    from Perez's pocket.         Lt. Impemba testified that the amount of
    money in various denominations was consistent with street-level
    drug distribution.         Lt. Impemba informed Det. Zingali of Perez's
    arrest     history   for     narcotics   distribution.       Based      on    the
    - 6 -
    information that Perez was a known drug dealer, Det. Zingali's
    belief that he and Lt. Lavita had witnessed a drug transaction,
    the single small baggie of suspected drugs found on the driver's
    side of the Mercedes in between the driver's seat and door, the
    money found on Perez, the fact that no other drugs were discovered
    from the pat down of Perez, and their experience and training, Lt.
    Impemba and Det. Zingali concluded that Perez was likely concealing
    more drugs on his body.       They decided that a strip search and a
    visual body cavity search were necessary to recover those drugs.
    Perez was instructed to pull down his pants and underwear
    and to bend over at the waist.       After initial hesitation, Perez
    bent over and Det. Zingali lowered himself and looked up towards
    Perez's   buttocks.    Det.    Zingali   saw   a   clear   plastic   baggie
    protruding from between Perez's buttocks and removed the baggie
    with a gloved hand.      The plastic bag was found to contain ten
    smaller plastic baggies of crack cocaine and three smaller plastic
    baggies of heroin.    The strip search and visual body cavity search
    were not performed pursuant to a standard written policy of the
    Revere Police Department.
    B.   Procedural History
    Perez was indicted on one count of possession with intent
    to distribute cocaine base in violation of 
    21 U.S.C. § 841
    (a)(1).
    On July 11, 2018, Perez filed a motion to suppress all evidence
    obtained from the warrantless stop and search of the Mercedes and
    - 7 -
    the warrantless strip search and visual body cavity search.                      The
    district court held a hearing on the motion to suppress on October
    31, 2018, and issued a memorandum and order denying that motion on
    January 11, 2019.      United States v. Perez, Criminal Action No. 17-
    10391-RGS, 
    2019 WL 181283
    , at *5 (D. Mass. Jan. 11, 2019).
    The district court held that, based on the officers'
    observations and experience, they had reasonable suspicion to
    conduct   the      initial   stop    of    Perez's    vehicle.       
    Id. at *4
    .
    Specifically, the court found that the following observations
    reasonably supported an inference that a drug transaction had taken
    place: (1) "an agitated man inappropriately dressed for the weather
    pacing on a public street while speaking on a cellular phone"; (2)
    that same man "after several minutes of pacing and talking, walked
    around the street corner where he approached a Mercedes vehicle
    idling in the middle of the street, having come from the direction
    of Route 1A"; (3) "th[at] man then leaned into the passenger window
    for 10 or 15 seconds and then walked away"; and (4) " the unusual
    and circuitous route that the Mercedes took while driving away
    from the scene, a route that an experienced officer would have
    recognized    as    consistent      with   counter    surveillance     and/or    an
    attempt to evade police."           
    Id.
        The court also held that Perez's
    arrest and the search of the Mercedes were lawful.                  
    Id. at *4-5
    .
    With    respect   to    the    strip    and   visual    body   cavity
    searches, the district court first cited Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S.
    - 8 -
    520 (1979), for the proposition that "[s]earches of persons jailed
    after arrest, including strip searches and visual body cavity
    searches, may be conducted with less than probable cause if the
    search is reasonable in scope, manner, and purpose."               Perez, 
    2019 WL 181283
    , at *4 (emphasis added) (citing Wolfish, 441 U.S. at
    558-60).      Neither   party    had     cited    Wolfish   for   that   precise
    proposition in their briefs to the district court.                The district
    court then cited our decision in Swain v. Spinney, 
    117 F.3d 1
     (1st
    Cir. 1997), for the proposition that to be reasonable under
    Wolfish, "strip and visual body cavity searches must be justified
    by at least a reasonable suspicion that the arrestee is concealing
    contraband or weapons."         Perez, 
    2019 WL 181283
    , at *4 (quoting
    Swain, 
    117 F.3d at 7
    ).
    Ultimately, the district court held that
    [t]he search of Perez incident to booking was
    lawful, including the strip and visual body
    cavity search of his person . . . [because]
    [a] detainee who is jailed pursuant to a valid
    arrest, regardless of the nature or degree of
    the crime, may be subjected to a visual body
    cavity search on reasonable suspicion (or
    less).
    
    Id.
     at *5 (citing Florence v. Bd. of Chosen Freeholders, 
    566 U.S. 318
    , 336-38 (2012)).         The district court cited this rule even
    though neither party had cited Florence to the court and the
    government     had   never      argued     that    a   standard     less    than
    particularized reasonable suspicion should apply.                  Rather, the
    - 9 -
    government     had    argued      only    that    the      booking   officers     had
    particularized reasonable suspicion to justify the search.
    Perez entered a conditional plea agreement, reserving
    his right to challenge the district court's denial of his motion
    to    suppress,      and   he    was     sentenced      to   seventy-two    months'
    imprisonment.      He timely appealed.
    II.
    On appeal, Perez challenges only whether the officers
    had   reasonable      suspicion    to     perform    the     automobile    stop   and
    particularized reasonable suspicion to perform the visual body
    cavity search.       He does not assert that the search of his vehicle,
    once stopped, was unlawful or that the scope or manner of the
    visual body cavity search was overly intrusive.
    In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we
    evaluate legal conclusions de novo and findings of fact for clear
    error.   United States v. McGregor, 
    650 F.3d 813
    , 819-20 (1st Cir.
    2011).   We assess the record evidence in the light most favorable
    to the suppression ruling.             United States v. Arnott, 
    758 F.3d 40
    ,
    43 (1st Cir. 2014).             We need not rely solely on the district
    court's reasoning and may affirm a suppression ruling on any basis
    apparent in the record.          Id.; see also United States v. Adams, 
    971 F.3d 22
    , 31 (1st Cir. 2020) ("[W]e construe the record in the light
    most congenial to the district court's ruling and will affirm the
    court's denial of a suppression motion 'as long as that denial is
    - 10 -
    supported by any particularized and objectively reasonable view of
    the evidence.'" (quoting United States v. Tanguay, 
    811 F.3d 78
    , 81
    (1st Cir. 2016))).
    A.     The Officers Had Reasonable Suspicion to Stop Perez's Vehicle
    Perez argues that Lt. Lavita and Det. Zingali may have
    had a "hunch" that criminal activity had taken place, but that
    they lacked the reasonable suspicion necessary to stop Perez's
    vehicle.      A police officer can conduct a brief investigatory stop
    of a person or vehicle where the officer has a reasonable suspicion
    that criminal activity is afoot.               United States v. Arvizu, 
    534 U.S. 266
    ,    273   (2002).      A   reviewing   court   must   consider    the
    "totality of the circumstances" in determining whether the officer
    had a particularized and objective basis for suspecting criminal
    activity, which may include inferences drawn from the officer's
    specialized training and experience.             Id.; see also United States
    v. Dubose, 
    579 F.3d 117
    , 121-22 (1st Cir. 2009).
    We   agree   that   the    officers'    observations    of     the
    activities of both the man and the Mercedes and its passengers
    justified the stop of Perez's vehicle. Lt. Lavita and Det. Zingali
    observed a man inappropriately dressed for the weather pacing back
    and forth and looking up and down various streets while on a cell
    phone, before finally rushing towards an arriving vehicle.                 Those
    observations could support an inference that this was a planned
    meeting.       That, together with the nature of the man's brief
    - 11 -
    interaction with the occupants of the Mercedes, could reasonably
    have led Lt. Lavita and Det. Zingali, who both had extensive
    training and experience in narcotics distribution, to conclude
    that a street-level drug transaction had just occurred.       See
    Dubose, 
    579 F.3d at 121-22
     (finding reasonable suspicion of a drug
    transaction based on the brief nature of the interaction between
    the defendant and the occupants of the vehicle, the fact that the
    defendant leaned his body into the vehicle during the interaction,
    the fact that the defendant's conduct was similar to conduct in
    other drug transactions in the area, and the expertise of the
    observing officer); United States v. Trullo, 
    809 F.2d 108
    , 112
    (1st Cir. 1987).
    The officers' reasonable suspicion of criminal activity
    was further supported by the strange and circuitous route the
    Mercedes took once the unmarked cruiser began to follow, which
    reasonably led Lt. Lavita and Det. Zingali to believe that the
    driver was attempting to evade police surveillance.   See Florida
    v. Rodriguez, 
    469 U.S. 1
    , 6 (1984) (stating that the defendant's
    "strange movements in his attempt to evade the officers [inside
    the airport] aroused further justifiable suspicion" for the stop);
    United States v. Vargas, 
    633 F.2d 891
    , 893, 895-96 (1st Cir. 1980)
    (finding reasonable suspicion to justify an automobile stop based,
    in part, on the vehicle's "seemingly evasive driving pattern").
    - 12 -
    B.   The Officers Had Particularized Reasonable      Suspicion   to
    Conduct the Visual Body Cavity Search
    Perez also argues that the district court erred in
    finding that the visual body cavity search was permissible.   Perez
    argues that the district court erred in applying the Supreme
    Court's decision in Florence to the context of an arrestee being
    booked in a police station.1    See 
    566 U.S. at 325, 333-34, 338
    ;
    see also Wolfish, 441 U.S. at 558-60.
    This case was never presented to the district court as
    one involving the rule of Florence and Wolfish.        Indeed, the
    government never even cited Florence in its briefs to the district
    court, but rather relied solely on the particularized reasonable
    suspicion standard from United States v. Barnes, 
    506 F.3d 58
     (1st
    Cir. 2007), and Swain to justify the visual body cavity search.2
    No evidence relevant to whether the rule of Florence and Wolfish
    1    Florence and Wolfish were both decided in the specific
    context of detention facilities, such as prisons or jails, in which
    correctional officers conducted suspicionless searches, pursuant
    to a standard policy, of all detainees entering or reentering the
    general population and which were motivated by the special safety
    and security concerns that inhere to those facilities.          See
    Florence, 
    566 U.S. at 322-23, 325-28, 330-38
    ; Wolfish, 441 U.S. at
    546-48, 558-60.
    2    The government does not dispute that the search here
    involved a visual body cavity search, rather than a mere strip
    search. See Barnes, 
    506 F.3d at 62
     (distinguishing the level of
    particularized suspicion necessary for a visual body cavity search
    from that necessary for a less-intrusive strip search). We accept
    the parties' characterization of this search as involving a visual
    body cavity search.
    - 13 -
    applies in this context was ever presented to the district court,
    such as the conditions of the holding cells or the particular
    safety or security concerns at the Revere police station.      The
    district court simply cited Florence without explaining why it
    applies to the circumstances of this case.     See Perez, 
    2019 WL 181283
    , at *4-5.   That was error.3
    Nonetheless, the parties agree that we can decide the
    particularized reasonable suspicion issue on this record applying
    our decisions in Barnes and Swain.     See Barnes, 
    506 F.3d at 62
    ;
    Swain, 
    117 F.3d at 7
    .4      In Barnes, we reaffirmed that "the
    reasonable suspicion standard governs strip and visual body cavity
    searches in the arrestee context" and "[t]he suspicion must be
    specific to the individual being searched."       
    506 F.3d at 62
    (alteration omitted) (first quoting Swain, 
    117 F.3d at 7
    ; then
    citing Roberts v. Rhode Island, 
    239 F.3d 107
    , 110 (1st Cir. 2001));
    3    On appeal, the government does not defend the visual
    body cavity search on Florence grounds, but rather focuses its
    arguments on whether the visual body cavity search was justified
    by particularized reasonable suspicion.
    4    The district court did not cite Barnes anywhere in its
    opinion, nor did it cite Swain's reasonable suspicion standard in
    the portion of its opinion deciding the permissibility of the strip
    and visual body cavity search of Perez. Perez, 
    2019 WL 181283
    , at
    *5. Rather, it merely cited Florence for the broader rule that
    the visual body cavity search of Perez could be justified on
    reasonable suspicion or less. 
    Id.
     The district court thus failed
    to analyze specifically whether the officers had particularized
    reasonable suspicion to conduct the visual body cavity search of
    Perez under Barnes.
    - 14 -
    see also 
    id.
     (holding that because "a visual body cavity search
    involves a greater intrusion into personal privacy[,] . . . prior
    to conducting a visual body cavity search, we require a more
    particularized suspicion that contraband is concealed").5
    Lt. Impemba and Det. Zingali were aware that Perez was
    a known drug dealer, and Lt. Impemba had personally been involved
    in   the      investigation   and   arrest   of   Perez   for   narcotics
    distribution.      A small baggie appearing to contain crack cocaine
    and sized for an individual sale was found on the floor between
    the driver's seat and the driver's side door.             Based on their
    training and experience, it was reasonable for the officers to
    believe that Perez had more than that single distribution-size
    baggie and, given that the search of the vehicle and the pat frisk
    did not turn up any more drugs, they were likely concealed on his
    body.       It was also reasonable for the officers to conclude that
    Perez had dropped the baggie on the driver's side floor while
    attempting to conceal drugs on his body. We have recognized before
    the propensity for drug dealers to hide bags of drugs under their
    clothing.      See United States v. Rasberry, 
    882 F.3d 241
    , 250 (1st
    5 The particularized reasonable suspicion standard of
    Barnes does not require particularized reasonable suspicion that
    weapons or contraband are to be found in a specific body cavity as
    opposed to other body cavities.      See Barnes, 
    506 F.3d at 62
    (stating that "prior to conducting a visual body cavity search, we
    require a more particularized suspicion that contraband is
    concealed," but not stating that the suspicion must be with respect
    to a specific body cavity).
    - 15 -
    Cir. 2018) ("This suspicion [that the defendant was concealing
    drugs in his underwear] was heightened by [the officer]'s knowledge
    that      drug     dealers       frequently      conceal      drugs      in    their
    undergarments."); United States v. Cofield, 
    391 F.3d 334
    , 337 n.2
    (1st Cir. 2004) (noting that, in discussing the reasonableness of
    a   strip    search,     "[i]t     is   common    knowledge      that    controlled
    substances often are concealed on the person of users and dealers
    alike" (alteration in original) (quoting Burns v. Loranger, 
    907 F.2d 233
    , 238-39 (1st Cir. 1990))).               Perez was found with a few
    hundred     dollars,    several     cell   phones    in    the   vehicle,      and   a
    passenger carrying a firearm with an obliterated serial number,
    all of which were also indicative of street-level drug dealing and
    reaffirmed       the   suspicion    that    Perez    likely      had    more   drugs
    concealed.
    Moreover, Perez had driven in an evasive manner while
    being followed by police, Perez and Alicea had been observed
    quickly exchanging cell phones as the officers approached the
    Mercedes, and Perez's passenger had fled the scene while attempting
    to discard a firearm, all of which supported reasonable suspicion
    of attempts to conceal evidence of criminal activity.                    Taking the
    booking     officers'        observations,       knowledge,      and     experience
    collectively, it is apparent from the record that they collectively
    had particularized reasonable suspicion to justify the visual body
    cavity search for drugs.           See Barnes, 
    506 F.3d at 62
     (explaining
    - 16 -
    that reasonable suspicion can be established by the "collective
    knowledge" of the officers involved in the investigation).
    It is true that in Barnes we held that the government
    had   not        shown   adequate      evidence    that    the   officers      had
    particularized       reasonable     suspicion     to   conduct   a   visual   body
    cavity search, despite a tip from an informant that the defendant
    was known to conceal drugs between his buttocks.                     
    Id. at 63-64
    (remanding to determine whether the informant's tip had sufficient
    indicia     of    reliability     to   support    particularized       reasonable
    suspicion).        Perez argues that because the booking officers here
    lacked even a tip or other information indicating that Perez had
    a reputation for concealing drugs in his buttocks, they could not
    possibly have had the sort of particularized and individualized
    suspicion necessary for a visual body cavity search.                     He also
    argues that under Barnes, particularized reasonable suspicion for
    a visual body cavity search is not satisfied by the mere fact that
    the arrestee has a history of drug-related offenses or that some
    drugs were found in the vehicle the arrestee was driving.
    To the extent that Perez suggests officers can establish
    particularized reasonable suspicion only where they have a tip or
    other information indicating that the suspect has a reputation for
    concealing drugs in his buttocks, that argument is wrong.                        A
    determination of particularized reasonable suspicion is based on
    the totality of the circumstances known to the investigating
    - 17 -
    officers at the time of the search, and our cases establish that
    this determination must be made on a case-by-case basis.        See
    Barnes, 
    506 F.3d at 62
     ("[I]n evaluating whether the suspicion was
    reasonable, we 'look at the totality of the circumstances of each
    case to see whether the detaining officer ha[d] a particularized
    and objective basis for suspecting legal wrongdoing.'" (second
    alteration in original) (emphasis added) (quoting Arvizu, 
    534 U.S. at 273
    )); see also Rasberry, 882 F.3d at 250-51 (focusing on the
    particular facts of the case); Swain, 
    117 F.3d at 7-9
     (same).
    There are facts here that were not present in Barnes,
    including the presence of a distribution-size baggie of suspected
    drugs on the floor next to the driver's seat and the indications
    that Perez and his passenger were attempting to conceal evidence,
    which support a particularized and individualized suspicion that
    Perez was concealing more drugs on his body.   Cf. Barnes, 
    506 F.3d at 60
     (explaining that the officers discovered a large bag of
    marijuana and small bag of marijuana in the trunk of the vehicle,
    but no bags of drugs in the driver's compartment and reciting no
    facts indicating an attempt to conceal evidence).     The officers
    were not relying solely on the mere presence of suspected drugs in
    the vehicle or Perez's history of drug dealing to justify the
    visual body cavity search.   Once the officers had particularized
    reasonable suspicion that Perez was concealing drugs on his body,
    they were not required to have a more particularized suspicion
    - 18 -
    that Perez was or had a reputation for concealing drugs in his
    buttocks or some other specific body area.   See 
    id. at 62
    .
    III.
    We affirm the district court's denial of Perez's motion
    to suppress, but as to the visual body cavity search, we do so for
    reasons different than the district court.
    Affirmed.
    -Concurring Opinion Follows-
    - 19 -
    TORRUELLA,      Circuit       Judge     (Concurring).        I   write
    separately to emphasize "the severe if not gross interference with
    a person's privacy that occurs when guards conduct a visual
    inspection of body cavities."             Blackburn v. Snow, 
    771 F.2d 556
    ,
    564 (1st Cir. 1985) (quoting Arruda v. Fair, 
    710 F.2d 886
    , 887
    (1st Cir. 1983)); see also Roberts v. Rhode Island, 
    239 F.3d 107
    ,
    110 (1st Cir. 2001) ("[W]e consider such searches an 'extreme
    intrusion' on personal privacy and 'an offense to the dignity of
    the individual.'" (quoting Wood v. Clemons, 
    89 F.3d 922
    , 928 (1st
    Cir. 1996))).     "Even when carried out in a respectful manner, and
    even absent any physical touching, such searches are inherently
    harmful, humiliating, and degrading."               Florence v. Bd. of Chosen
    Freeholders, 
    566 U.S. 318
    , 345 (2012) (Breyer, J., dissenting)
    (citation    omitted);     see    
    id. at 341
        (Alito,   J.,    concurring)
    (describing      strip   and     body    cavity     searches   as    "undoubtedly
    humiliating and deeply offensive to many").               Accordingly, we have
    required    "a   more    particularized       suspicion   that      contraband   is
    concealed" for body cavity searches than for strip searches.
    United States v. Barnes, 
    506 F.3d 58
    , 62 (1st Cir. 2007); see
    Florence, 
    566 U.S. at 343
     (Breyer, J., dissenting) (explaining
    that searches involving "close observation of the private areas of
    a person's body . . . constitute a far more serious invasion of
    that person's privacy" than do searches involving that person
    "undressing and taking a shower" under supervision).
    - 20 -
    "[W]hen 'privacy-related concerns are weighty enough' a
    'search may require a warrant, notwithstanding the diminished
    expectations of privacy of [an] arrestee.'"           Riley v. California,
    
    573 U.S. 373
    , 392 (2014) (quoting Maryland v. King, 
    569 U.S. 435
    ,
    463 (2013)).    Given the intrusiveness of body cavity searches,
    absent exigency, I believe a judicial order ought to be obtained
    before such searches are conducted.               See Birchfield v. North
    Dakota, 
    136 S. Ct. 2160
    , 2187 (2016) (Sotomayor, J., concurring in
    part) ("Both before and after a person has been arrested, warrants
    are the usual safeguard against unreasonable searches . . . .");
    cf. Florence, 
    566 U.S. at 342
     (Alito, J., concurring) ("The Court
    does not address whether it is always reasonable, without regard
    to the offense or the reason for detention, to strip search an
    arrestee before the arrestee's detention has been reviewed by a
    judicial   officer.");      
    id.
       at    354–55   (Breyer,   J.,   dissenting)
    (noting the same).
    Nevertheless, because the majority's decision comports
    with our precedent that "the reasonable suspicion standard governs
    strip and visual body cavity searches in the arrestee context,"
    Swain v. Spinney, 
    117 F.3d 1
    , 7 (1st Cir. 1997), and that the
    circumstances   of   this    case      provide   particularized    reasonable
    suspicion, see Barnes, 
    506 F.3d at
    62–64, I join the decision.
    - 21 -