DWB ( Driving While Black)

[HeyYou]

It used to be.... not sure if it still is or not.... You could have a cloud of pot-smelling smoke rolling our your window, and if the cop smelled it, it did NOT constitute probable cause. If the DOG smelled it though, the cops could search.

I don't know where you get this idea that if a cop smells pot smoke emerging from your car, that he lacks sufficient grounds to search your car. He most definitely can search your car. Any college student knows what marijuana smells like and can pinpoint with at least 75% accuracy when a person in a small enclosed space has been smoking weed.

 

Perhaps you missed the "it USED TO BE" part in my post? And I got the idea from direct experience. AT ONE TIME, the cop did not have the authority to search a car based on HIS sense of smell. I suspect I am significantly older than you......

 

I was told by a lawyer that in my state, you basically got no rights while driving, and they can forcibly search you without a warrant if they have any reasonable suspicion, whether its legitimate or not. All they would have to tell the judge is "I thought I smelled drugs" or etc and they will almost always take the officers word.

 

It used to be.... not sure if it still is or not.... You could have a cloud of pot-smelling smoke rolling our your window, and if the cop smelled it, it did NOT constitute probable cause. If the DOG smelled it though, the cops could search.

 

Trying to tell a cop what they can and can't do is a sure way to get beat down and arrested. Whether they are right or wrong, doesn't matter, they got a badge + hand cuffs + a gun + taser. Best thing to do is be polite, and don't get smart even if they are being a prick.

 

You get more with honey, than you do with vinegar. Yep. (or, in this case perhaps, you get less??) If I am doing something wrong, and I get caught, all well and good. I will freely admit that, (Gee officer, I suspect you pulled me over because I was making to much progress?) I don't have a problem with that. But, when a cop decides he wants to search my car, because I have long hair...... and am wearing jeans and t-shirt. Nope, that doesn't fly. (and no, I didn't have anything illegal in my car.) I can smell a prick from a mile away, and I am also old, and experienced enough, to know when it doesn't matter what I do, the situation is going to turn out badly.

[Deleted472477User]

I've not seen nor heard much about this sort of thing going on in Denver, thankfully. I know it isn't all sunshine and roses here, but I don't think it's to that degree, either.

 

You did the right thing. I would have done it, too.

[Beriallord]

I came across this video on youtube where an officer just completely flips out because the driver he pulled over asked him to get a warrant to search his vehicle:

 

*Warning graphic language in video*

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQUzapAzIac&feature=player_embedded

 

 

 

 

Wow, just wow. I hope he lost his job over that.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Beriallord

[Aurielius]

I came across this video on youtube where an officer just completely flips out because the driver he pulled over asked him to get a warrant to search his vehicle:

Wow, just wow. I hope he lost his job over that.

 

Being that it's South Carolina what do you think? Aside from the language I wanted to laugh at the stormtroopers's loss of cool. I guess he thought he had a ripe plum that was taken away from him by someone who actually knew his rights. :thumbsup:

Edited January 16, 2012 by Aurielius

[Sepherose]

I came across this video on youtube where an officer just completely flips out because the driver he pulled over asked him to get a warrant to search his vehicle:

 

Wow, just wow. I hope he lost his job over that.

 

That... was an angry officer, for no real reason o.o'

 

Sadly, I have seen things similar to that happen here, but not quite like that.

[HeyYou]

Wow.... (to repeat what someone said earlier....) Who peed in his wheaties???? Damn.

[Marxist ßastard]

Being that it's South Carolina what do you think?

It's West Virginia.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Marxist ßastard

[SubjectProphet]

It happened because he was black. How do I know? Because all PD's are freaking racist. It's not right. Blacks are as great as Whites, all are equal, and they always will be. I've had this happen, my friend was black and driving and I was in the passanger seat. We were laughing and having one heck of a time, and we got pulled over. We were going the speed limit, didn't pass a red light, none of that, and the cop said "suspicous behavior." Bullcrap. We were going with the lane, everyone drove, we drove, and yet we are the only ones who get pulled over.

[Lutine]

Luckily, up here in New York, we don't get too much of that racial prejudice.

We've got a fair amount of black cops and citizens around here that would likely raise hell in any incident, other people aside.

[Marxist ßastard]

In February 2009, 24-year-old Cadillac Derrick was stopped in Columbia, MO by Officers Tim Giger and Jon Logan. The officers directed Derrick from the busy street he was on into a parking lot. Derrick produced his license and registration. Giger silently indicated to Logan that he smelled marijuana, but Logan didn't smell anything. When Derrick asked why he had been pulled over, Giger said it was for driving without a license. Derrick asked for his license back, but Giger just asked Derrick to leave the car (so he and Logan could perform a search). Derrick refused.

 

Without warning, Giger tasered Derrick and dragged him out of the car. With the taser still engaged, Giger shoved Derrick out of the dashboard camera's view. He and Logan then beat Derrick bloody on the pavement as Derrick screamed for help and his terrified girlfriend, Amanda Reed, looked on. Giger asked Logan to use his taser on Derrick as well, but its batteries were dead. One of the officers sprayed mace into Derrick's eyes. When more officers arrived, Derrick was finally charged with something – resisting arrest – and his car was searched, but no drugs or guns were found. Giger later joked that Logan "should have charged [his] taser" before the incident. After three years and a lengthy court case, the state dropped its charges and paid Derrick all of $50K.

 

Yet ultimately, neither Giger nor Logan got so much as a slap on the wrist. An internal investigation led by Lt. John White found that Giger had used deadly force while beating Derrick, but Police Chief Ken Burton overruled the investigation. Giger and Logan continue to be the force's star officers in Columbia's mostly-black First Ward neighborhood.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Marxist ßastard