USA - Vehicle search question

[tycon69]

So swim had a very close run in with the police the other night. Swim and some friends were smoking some bud when a friend of swim's friends called asking for them to come over. So swim and his friends grabbed the weed and stuffed it into the usual hiding place (under the deoderant in a deoderant tube) and hopped into the vehicle. Swim was moderately stoned and his friends failed to tell him of an upcoming turn resulting in a very quick, wreckless turn. This was immediately followed by swim having to back up about 20 meters to park in another driveway because the friends driveway was full. Swim pulled into the driveway and out comes a police with it's lights on. Everyone hops out of the car to see what the police wanted. He informs swim that he saw swiu driving wrecklessly and backing up in the street. He then commences to question swiu. After finding out the reason swiw were there and most likely smelling the weed on swius, he walks up to the car and opens the door without saying a word. He then begins to look around while asking if swiu had anything illegal in the car. He goes through swim's backpack and looks at swim's axe deoderant. After inspecting it he puts it down. He then points to the other tube of deoderant, the one with the bud in it, and asks what it was. Swim replies by stating that it is simply deoderant and that he carries his hygenic products with him. Now from swim's observations, it seemed that the cop could only search what was in his hand's reach from outside the car. The deoderant tube just happened to be just out of his reach so that he couldn't search it. Is this the law as it pertains to automobile searches? Can it only be searched as far as the officer can reach?

After that he asks swim if he can let the seat back. Knowing nothing was back there and hoping to keep the attention off of the deoderant, swim lets the seat back and allows the cop to rummage through it. All this time, swim constantly tries to butter the cop up telling him how he is on the football team and attending college next year. The cop finally gives up and asks for swim's licence. He abliges hoping to get rid of the cop. After calling in the number, the cop begins to shine his flashlight in all of swiour faces. He stops at one of swims friends who had taken a huge plethora of prescription meds from xanax to klonapin to gabapentin to oxys and asks why his eyes are so weird. Swim's friend just motions that he doesn't know with his shoulders. The cop then begins to tell him to empty his pockets. After a quick patdown, he finally lets off of swim's friend, but little did he know that swim's friend actually had a dimebag in his sweatshirt pocket that the cop somehow missed on the patdown. Finally, the cop gives swim's licence back and tells swiu to wait while he gets another officer there to give swim a warning. About that time, the guy that swiu went to meet came running out telling the police that it was ok that swiw were with him. The cop says ok and lets swiu off without even the warning. It turns out that the guy we were going to meet had called the cops and told them to watch his house because he had recieved a threat from a local gang. What a close call! Swim swears from then on to never smoke and drive with bud in the car from thenceforth out of fear of becoming inable to recieve financial aid for college with a drug charge.

Now to the point of my post. Did the cop overstep his boundary by this search? He didn't even ask or inform swim of the search, he just did it. Is this legal? Also, if it is legal, it seemed to swim that the cop was unable to let the seat back, open the glove compartment, or search anything else out of his arm's reach. Is this the law? Could swim have made the cop stop searching if he told him to? Why did the cop only search the guy who looked ridiculously fucked up? Is this part of a law? Can he only search someone if he sees physical reason to do so besides the smell of mauriuana? If swim's friend who was searched was found with weed, could swim be charged with something? Is it true that drug charges will cause you to be denied financial aid?

P.S. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read this. I appologize if I wrote this in the wrong format or in the wrong section. I did search and I did review a few other posts, I simply wanted clarification on swim's specific case. Thanks for your help.