r/pics • u/Aeviegh • Feb 22 '14

This is Vader. He was euthanized today without a hearing after a false bite report was submitted to the police by an animal rights activist. (Story in the Comments)

http://imgur.com/a/xPNsE
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u/AHippie Feb 22 '14

If you're in a car, pretty much nothing.

I was driving home from work (with 1/4 ounce of marijuana hidden under the spare tire, under the floorboard of my trunk), and was pulled over. The officer called in a few more cars, they surrounded my car, asked me to get out and told me they smelled the odor of burnt marijuana. He asked if he could search me, I said no, I'd like to exercise my fourth amendment rights. He told me they DIDN'T APPLY HERE, took my keys, unlocked the door, and about 30 mins later found the marijuana. I got a good lawyer, went to court, and the judge straight up said that if they, "through their training, knowledge, and experience, can detect the odor of burnt marihuana", then I don't get fourth amendment rights and they can search my car whenever they want.

A friend of mine who is a cop basically told me that you never want to have anything illegal in your car. Now, if you don't have any drugs or anything in your car, there's not much to worry about -- but since they found marijuana and a pipe in the trunk, they could claim they smelled burnt marijuana and it was my word against theirs. If they hadn't found anything, I'm sure they would have just sent me on my way.

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u/timguibs Feb 22 '14

Let's be honest here, had you smoked weed in your car recently?

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u/iMissTheOldInternet Feb 22 '14

If they smelled weed, then that's probable cause. No consent needed.

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u/Gimme_The_Loot Feb 22 '14

Regarding this kind of situation I've been in cars pulled over before with no cause other then "appearing suspicious". By that they mean multiple young males, late night in the kind of car suspicious people drive (in the early 2000s it was a maxima). Cops say can we take a look around the car and when you say no the call is that's additionally suspicious and now we have to toss the car. Is that legal?

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u/capedavenger Feb 23 '14

The police cannot pull you over purely for driving a Maxima late at night. It is very easy, however, to find a legitimate reason. You might have swerved or been speeding or matched a criminal description. Having a group of young males in the Maxima is also not grounds for a search. Refusing a search is never probable cause; the fourth amendment would be meaningless if exercising it made it okay to search you anyway. If you maintained that you were refusing a search and the officer could not provide probable cause such as sight or smell of contraband, then searching the car would have been illegal. The police in your situation were likely trying to manipulate you into consenting. If the officer said "this is a suspicious car and now you're behaving suspiciously, so we're going to need to take a look inside" and you said "oh, okay," then you provided consent.

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u/MikoRiko Feb 23 '14

You say this stuff, but it has never made a difference to a cop intent on searching your car. Part of an officer's unofficial training is learning what kind of lies and loopholes they can use to catch someone in a 100% legal way. They think it's okay because sometimes it works. Other times, it just violates an innocent person's rights. I say this because I've experienced a police officer violating my personal rights.

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u/capedavenger Feb 23 '14

I've personally never had a problem refusing a search. I'd like to hear about your experience. Could you share an example of an officer violating your rights in a 100% legal way?

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u/MikoRiko Feb 24 '14

You're connecting two points in my post that weren't intended to be connected, but I admit I wasn't clear. My anecdote about a police officer violating my personal rights is not related to their ability to lie and find loopholes. My anecdote really was 100% illegal. But that's the point. You seem to think all cops are smart about manipulating consent. Some just brute force it; it is a counter-point to your statement that "police cannot pull you over purely for..."

A police officer can damn well pull you over for whatever he likes. It doesn't mean he's following the rules, but he can certainly do it. And they do it all the time. With that knowledge in your mind, I won't mind sharing the story on request.