Illegal Search and Seizure.

[psychobilly]

Before I begin I'd like to say that I'm an 18 year old male and I've studied into Law for whats been the last 6 years so I know my right's and I know what term's I am speaking of.

Earlier today I got pulled over by a police officer for going 43 in a 25.(first of all would like to say i turned a corner a block prior in my 1991 Lincoln continental with air filter problems and a large whole in the muffler. Just saying I dont believe this officer's gun was calibrated when he checked me he was also parked 2 car length's away from a light that was red, and I was stopping at.
I also have a electric speedometer that randomly turn's off when it wants to and it wasn't on at that time.)
But anyway's the officer approached my vehicle and he took down my information and told me what I got clocked for. He went back to his vehicle and filled out the ticket and came back and had me sign it. i did and i took my ticket.
It's at this point I get a big surprise. The officer ask's me to step out of my vehicle and has me stand in front of his car. I comply fully. He then ask's to search my vehicle as he's walking towards it. I tell him "Excuse me officer, I do not Consent to a vehicle search. He then put's me back in his police cruiser.(Mind you while all this is taking place their is another officer parked behind the one that pulled me over with his light's on and another officer circling the block. While yet another officer would pull in and leave turning his light's on and off.) The officer then called up the sheriff's department to bring out their drug sniffing dog's. so now there is a sherriff parked behind the 2 cop car's behind me. while I'm still in cop car #1. I watch out the window as they walk the dog's back and forth. first on the left side 2 times then on right side 2 times then back to the left side 2 more times and then back to right for 2 time's. I do not see any change in the dog's whatsoever and the Sherrif then took the dog away. The 2 officer's that are at my car now don't come back instead they open both door's in the front and go thru everything in my vehicle including poping the trunk and opening the glove compartment. They found a few stem's and seed's they dug from way in the crack's off the seat and an old broken piece that's been sitting under trash in the back seat for over 6 month's that was broken even. The officer's come up to me, pull me out of the police cruiser and slap handcuff's on me as they tell me I'm being arrested for drug possession and paraphernalia.
All's I can do at this point is keep my mouth shut and try not to cry because I'm scared a lil bit.(this is the first time i've ever been pulled over)

How many of you people have been pulled over for a random traffic violation and got asked to step outta the vehicle, after getting your ticket.

I have been Weed clean for about 2 week's now. Looking for a job.

What these officer's did to me was a violation of my 4th amendment right. especially after I told him that I did not consent to a search. They also got into my Trunk and my Glove compartment prior to me being arrested or asking for my consent.
Upon being arrested after this illegal search and seizure would that not make my arrest a False arrest and if so, do i have all right's to file a civil lawsuit against the officer or the police department for" Probable False arrest" where the officer himself does not have to admit to knowingly doing the Illegal search and seizure but I still get compensation for "Public Embarassment" My names gonna be in my Town's main new's paper and for the amount of officer's that attracted complete humiliation towards me.(It' happened on the Third busiest street in my town.) and for mental distress. I have previous youth prescription's for Depression and I've also been sent to a Children mental hospital when I was 15 for being suicidal. Believe me I'm not just trying to pinch every penny out of my city's fund's. but i haven't felt this suicidal after being betrayed by my government in such a way to have one of my right's violated right before my eye's like it was no big deal. I'm fighting this cause I believe these illegal search and seizure's are way more then common practice in my town.
I was going to go jump off the nearest bridge after this ordeal. well I wasent going to i just felt very strongly about doing so.
I'm not kidding about feeling completely humiliated after being a light show on the third busiest road in my town or the fact that this whole thing took over an hour and almost all of the officer's where their or in the vicinity.
and I'm not kidding about having mental distress after all this. I still right now have a fear that without a good lawyer I might not be able to get this obvious of an illegal prosecution off and may get a record that will affect my already current job hunting situation.
FYI i have a clean record and that was first road stop since i got my license 2 years ago.

I dident sugar coat anything and i might actually use that top half as my statement.

Remember this all started with a speeding ticket that i already had in my hand. and nothing in plain view and no funny smell nor was i asked about smell's.

but as i see it the illegal search and seizure lead to an unlawful arrest and I Want to Sue the city for mental distress and pubic embarrassment which was all apart of the illegal search and seizure and was then and now the unlawful arrest.

I might also add that I was polite and well mannered while talking to the officer the entire time and once I got told I was being arrested I shut my mouth and just answered the question's the officer needed to know to write his ticket out.

[BrokenCredit.com]

How did everything work out for you? What's the update?

[jtang]

Unfortunately even sworn officers of the law can choose to abuse their powers. I hope things turned out okay for you, psychobilly.

[Hybrid]

I must apologize for the tone of my response. I am well aware that it is... less than sensitive.

First: You need to seriously work on your language skills. No one will take you seriously if you write like that. Regardless of what your capabilities may be, it simply makes you look unintelligent.

Second: You need to research "the automobile exception" to illegal searches and seizures. Based on your description, nothing they did was illegal.

Third: If they brought in drug sniffing dogs, that could mean that the officer noticed the seeds in the crack of your seat. Or he could have smelled something himself, and then brought in the drug dog to confirm. He would not have to tell you that he smelled something. It is irrelevant if you believe that there was no smell. That is because a)Use of marijuana can impair your sense of smell. If the sent was faint enough that the officer had to bring in a drug dog, and you smoke marijuana (being clean for two weeks will NOT reverse that impairment), then it would be expected that you would not smell it, even if the officer could. and b) the human brain can not respond to an unchanging stimulus. That means you could have gotten used to the smell.

Fourth: It doesn't matter if you never noticed a change in the dogs behavior. It's not like what you see on t.v.; the dogs don't start freaking out every time they smell drugs. It was most likely a signal as simple as scratching the ground, or turning around in a circle.

Fifth: You have no case regarding a false arrest. The ONLY protection that the bill of rights offers you is what is known as the exclusionary rule. The officers can violate
EVERY
SINGLE
ONE
of the rights which protect you from the gathering of illegal evidence, and the ONLY penalty is that the evidence can not be shown to a jury in court. That's just another part of police discretion. Maybe they don't really care if you serve a sentence or not. They just wanted to confiscate the contraband, and hassle you a little bit (which is not that bad, considering your only chance of avoiding a more serious punishment is through the exploitation of a technicality - you DID, by your own admission, have the contraband that they arrested you for.)

Sixth: You have no case for "mental distress". The arrest was legal, even if (and that's a BIG if) the search was not. If you were upset by the way they treated you, then you probably have some mental and/or emotional stability issues. That's your problem - not theirs. It seems obvious that you're just trying to avoid the punishment that you're due, and trying to cheat the system and win money that you honestly don't deserve. Keep in mind that IF, by some miracle, you did win this case, the money you received would come from TAX dollars. Your own neighbors will have to pay for your selfishness.

In summary...

Grow up, kid.

If you're still reading this, I'll reward you with some advise that might actually help you. At no point should you ever post your name, or anything else that can identify you on this site. Never write this down again. There are exceptions even to the exclusionary rule. One of those exceptions is called "independent source". You've admitted more than enough in this forum to assure a conviction, even without any evidence from the police.

If they do decide to use evidence against you, claiming independent source, you could TRY to counter it with two things
1) Privileged communication. You were looking for legal council when you posted this. Unfortunately, unless the A.D.A. is remarkable stupid, that wont help very much (because non-attorneys can read this, the 3rd party exception to the privileged communication exception to the exclusionary rule applies).
2) You could try calling this "the fruit of the poisonous tree". If you can prove that their original search was illegal (which you wont) then you could claim that you only discussed it because you needed legal help. If they had not violated the law, you would not have discussed it, therefor, your own confession is inadmissible because it was directly caused by their illegal search. And make sure you call it "the fruit of the poisonous tree". That's not something I made up - any attorney will know what you're talking about.

Good luck!

[LawsuitLawyer]

Yes some police officers use their powers against the law. You need to avoid such incidence.

[ilike]

It can be difficult at times, not sure what else to say..

[loanmod]

I will suggest you to file a civil suit against the policemen who are misusing their power.

[asklawyer]

You need more advice here, lol