my latest bad luck with the cops

[DRIVEN]

AFAIK police have to have a reason to pull you over

That may be but that still leaves a LOT of room for creativity on their part.

Example:

Last week I stopped for a couple beverages on my way home (late). At about 11:40 I left after 2 drinks. As I sat in my car waiting for the windows to defog a patrol car pulled up behind me. I didn't realize it was a cop because he didn't even have the red and blue flashing. Came up to my passenger window and asked what I was doing. "Just waiting for my car to warm up", I politely replied. He asked if I'd had anything to drink. I admitted to my two. He asked for my documents. They were all in order so I handed them over. He left for a few minutes and came back. "The reason I pulled over is because you turned on your light then turned them back off." I did do that to see how foggy my windshield still was. "I thought you were in distress so I needed to check on your safety". Really? It had nothing to do with me leaving a bar? He was obviously fishing. "Since you've admitted to drinking I need to assess your ability to drive. Please step out of the car". He asked me again about how many I'd had then pulled out his pocket breathalizer. "Since you haven't actually tried to drive anywhere and I didn't technically pull you over maybe we should do a quick blood-alcohol test to see if maybe you need to call a ride." Really? I asked him specifically if this was purely a favor to me to keep me from potentially breaking the law and he answered, "Yes". I have never in my life been so sure that I was being lied to. By this time another backup officer had shown up. I figured refusing to blow would only make it worse. I was under the limit but he advised that I call a ride for safety sake. I thanked him and pretended to call a friend. In mid "conversation" with my "friend" they both left.

Moral of the story:

I think the cop used a bogus excuse to investigate for a bigger offense. Technically, I'm sure there was some infraction he could have written me but didn't. I don't, for a second, believe he thought I was in distress or was "doing me a favor" buy "letting" me "voluntarily" blow. My paperwork was legit and I was as polite as possible. I don't know if my rights were legally violated but I think being mellow along with having a clean record probably saved me some money. I think many officers use the fact that most people don't know their rights along with certain phrasing to get people to admit/submit to self incrimination.

[hang_510]

 

Suspect: The parking lot is private property of the owner, does the police department have written permission to come on the property and execute plate searches without a warrant?

 

Cop: No.

 

Suspect: Move for dismissal.

denied.

a cop could easily be on the public street with a clear view of parked cars.

 

 

there job is to write tickets, er :unsure: enforce the law.

an error was made, now it costs more than doing it right the first time.

 

it sucks!

[Hardwyre]

denied.

a cop could easily be on the public street with a clear view of parked cars.

 

 

there job is to write tickets, er :unsure: enforce the law.

an error was made, now it costs more than doing it right the first time.

 

it sucks!

 

I love how we are the ones continually having to pay for the fuck ups of government peons.

[Dirk Diggler]

Provide input to support your claim? AFAIK police have to have a reason to pull you over, if that reason was derived from an unlawful encounter (e.g trespassing), the resulting stop and ticket are invalid, unless the cop lies and generates another reason.

 

When he subpoenas the cop and starts questioning him, it's going to go something like this:

 

Suspect: What was your reason for pulling me over?

 

Cop: You had invalid plates on your vehicle.

 

Suspect: You came up immediate after I left and pulled me over right away, how did you know I had invalid plates?

 

Cop: I ran them while your car was parked.

 

Suspect: In the bar parking lot?

 

Cop: Yes.

 

Suspect: The parking lot is private property of the owner, does the police department have written permission to come on the property and execute plate searches without a warrant?

 

Cop: No.

 

Suspect: Move for dismissal.

 

 

 

Hmm... we might both be right; jurisdiction over private property swings wildly between states.

 

You are right. It's called the "fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine". In laymans terms, it states that any evidence seized in an illegal search is inadmissable in court. The illegal search being the tree, the illegally obtained evidence being the fruit. The illegal search would be the officer scoping the plates in the driveway without permission and gathering the "fruit" while checking the plates.

 

That may be but that still leaves a LOT of room for creativity on their part.

Example:

Last week I stopped for a couple beverages on my way home (late). At about 11:40 I left after 2 drinks. As I sat in my car waiting for the windows to defog a patrol car pulled up behind me. I didn't realize it was a cop because he didn't even have the red and blue flashing. Came up to my passenger window and asked what I was doing. "Just waiting for my car to warm up", I politely replied. He asked if I'd had anything to drink. I admitted to my two. He asked for my documents. They were all in order so I handed them over. He left for a few minutes and came back. "The reason I pulled over is because you turned on your light then turned them back off." I did do that to see how foggy my windshield still was. "I thought you were in distress so I needed to check on your safety". Really? It had nothing to do with me leaving a bar? He was obviously fishing. "Since you've admitted to drinking I need to assess your ability to drive. Please step out of the car". He asked me again about how many I'd had then pulled out his pocket breathalizer. "Since you haven't actually tried to drive anywhere and I didn't technically pull you over maybe we should do a quick blood-alcohol test to see if maybe you need to call a ride." Really? I asked him specifically if this was purely a favor to me to keep me from potentially breaking the law and he answered, "Yes". I have never in my life been so sure that I was being lied to. By this time another backup officer had shown up. I figured refusing to blow would only make it worse. I was under the limit but he advised that I call a ride for safety sake. I thanked him and pretended to call a friend. In mid "conversation" with my "friend" they both left.

Moral of the story:

I think the cop used a bogus excuse to investigate for a bigger offense. Technically, I'm sure there was some infraction he could have written me but didn't. I don't, for a second, believe he thought I was in distress or was "doing me a favor" buy "letting" me "voluntarily" blow. My paperwork was legit and I was as polite as possible. I don't know if my rights were legally violated but I think being mellow along with having a clean record probably saved me some money. I think many officers use the fact that most people don't know their rights along with certain phrasing to get people to admit/submit to self incrimination.

 

You could have told that cop to eat a bag of dicks and theoretically he wouldn't be able to do anything. You were not driving and he never initiated a stop. When he came up to your window and questioned you, all you would have had to say is "are you detaining me, if not am I free to go?" He would need a valid reason to keep you there and give you a sobriety test.

 

However, he could have pulled you over down the road for a made up reason, given you the test, and charge you with a wet and reckless (if you have those where you are). Good call on submitting to the test, as refusal earns you a trip to jail for a blood test. In my county we can be cited for a wet and reckless if we blow .01, something they call a no tolerance policy.

[DRIVEN]

I should be grateful either way. I don't know what the law actually is. I've been told you can be charged for just having the keys in the ignition - running or not. Don't know if that's true. I know he was fishing and I didn't have any defense at the time. Figured I'd better just cooperate. Most of these guys have a pretty severe case of little-man complex and it doesn't cost anything to be polite. An arrest is never cheap. Even if he waaay overstepped his bounds and the case was full of holes you still gotta pay the attorney to get it thrown out. I guess if you can push it far enough to warrant a civil case against the officer or department it might be worth it. I'd rather not find out.

[BURLEIGH]

I should be grateful either way. I don't know what the law actually is. I've been told you can be charged for just having the keys in the ignition - running or not. Don't know if that's true. I know he was fishing and I didn't have any defense at the time. Figured I'd better just cooperate. Most of these guys have a pretty severe case of little-man complex and it doesn't cost anything to be polite. An arrest is never cheap. Even if he waaay overstepped his bounds and the case was full of holes you still gotta pay the attorney to get it thrown out. I guess if you can push it far enough to warrant a civil case against the officer or department it might be worth it. I'd rather not find out.

 

 

A guy I used to work with left a bar one night and got in his truck to warm it up before leaving. (he was definately inebriated...) As he was sitting there a couple of guys walked by his truck and one of them hit his rear veiw mirror as they passed. This guy being a bit of a hot head, got out of his truck with it still running and proceded to beat the hell out of the guy who hit his mirror. Not only did he get charged with assault, but they stuck him with a DWI too...

 

Another guy I spoke with a while back is a truck driver and was parked in a truck stopn near a bar. He went and had a few drinks then went back to his truck to sleep for the night.. after a few minutes, he turned on his truck to get some heat because it was cold. A cop pulled up and gave him a DUI.

 

First guy was definately due some punishment and was absolutely going to drive drunk, but the second guy got the shaft for sure...

[Dirk Diggler]

Exactly. It's best to cooperate if you have nothing to hide. State laws vary, but here in CA you can get a dui for being in possession of the keys and being I'm the drivers seat. An aquaintance of mine got a dui this way. We were drinking at the local pub and he was the only one who drove. A few of us walked back to my place to hang out and he insisted he would sleep it off in his car then drive home. Well he was asleep in the drivers seat with the keys in his pocket, the bar reported the car as abandoned since it was left after hours and a cruiser came to check it out. He woke the guy up, gave him a breathalizer and carted him off to jail.

[HRH]

Here's an idea, don't hang out in bar parking lots around the times drunks come out to drive home! Especially if you've had ANYTHING to drink. I haven't had any problems around here, but I have been pulled over two blocks from where I lived after driving home for the bar, and made to do the sobriety walk in the street in the middle of winter. Car wasn't warmed up, by the end of walking the line my teeth were chattering so loud because I didn't have my jacket because stupidly I was right down the street, and the cop finally asked how far I had to go, and I said around the corner, second house in. And he said, okay, go home, have a nice night. And because I wasn't inebriated (though had a few drinks) and wasn't a dick, the guy was cool and didn't even make me take a breathalyzer.

 

It's all about how you interact with people. Know how they operate, don't flip them shit. Be that one nice guy out of ten. Usually pays off for me, just sayin'.

[Hardwyre]

Exactly. It's best to cooperate if you have nothing to hide. State laws vary, but here in CA you can get a dui for being in possession of the keys and being I'm the drivers seat. An aquaintance of mine got a dui this way. We were drinking at the local pub and he was the only one who drove. A few of us walked back to my place to hang out and he insisted he would sleep it off in his car then drive home. Well he was asleep in the drivers seat with the keys in his pocket, the bar reported the car as abandoned since it was left after hours and a cruiser came to check it out. He woke the guy up, gave him a breathalizer and carted him off to jail.

 

That is such a load of horse shit. The dude was doing the responsible thing and still got turned into a tick mark on the cop's quota roll. The fuck head probably went to his buddies at the station with a story of how he busted some "crazy ass drunk" who was getting read to go speeding through a playground on recess. Got a buddy who used to be a deputy out in St. Helen's. He couldn't understand why people were so nervous around him whenever he was in uniform. "Seriously man? You're a cop. Too many of your brethren have fucked up your reputation by being quota monkeys and policy pushers. The motto may say "To serve and protect", but more and more departments operate on a quite "To tax and obfuscate" approach." He started paying closer attention to the stories he was hearing and eventually quit the force and switched to being a fireman.

[Suspect]

Well, its all over now until next time. I went to court today and the ticket was thrown out, so no fines or anything. It made my day just a little bit better.

[Hardwyre]

Well, its all over now until next time. I went to court today and the ticket was thrown out, so no fines or anything. It made my day just a little bit better.

 

Good. Now send a bill to the licensing department for all of the hours you've wasted because of their fuck up.