Originally posted by: Kanalua
Originally posted by: JEDI
Cop stops you for some bogus traffic violation. asks if he can search your car. even tho the car is clean, you say no bacause you dont feel like having it searched.
he calls for a k9 unit to sniff the outside of your car for drugs.
k9 unit arrives. k9 scratches the trunk area. bingo... probably cause. they search your car.
in the future, just say yes if the cop wants to search your car. it saves time. (the k9 is trained to scratch the trunk area every time :Q :| )
/Rant
Wow...they had to call in a K9 unit? Without a search warrant that's an illegal search. K9 searches are generally only kosher if a K9 search would not take any longer than a normal traffic stop. generally this means that a K9 unit is there at the time you are stopped. If the cop had to call one in and you had to wait for the K9 unit to arrive...that's not a valid search!
I would have politely asked if I could leave (before the K9 unit arrived)...and I wouldn't be surprised if the officer would have told me I could leave...before the K9 unit arrived. Otherwise everything in the search would likely be thrown out...so...
DO NOT GIVE CONSENT TO ANY SEARCH WITHOUT A SEARCH WARRANT. Plus, K9s only search for drugs, if he scratches your trunk and they find other illegal stuff, likely it's not going to be admitted into evidence at whatever trial. IF you give consent, whatever they find in your car will be admissible as evidence.
DO NOT GIVE CONSENT TO ANY SEARCH WITHOUT A SEARCH WARRANT.
Assuming that any said cop that did that actually "played" by the rules after breaking them in the first place. Tell me this isn't a scenario that hasn't happened before:
Officer: Excuse me judge I found this brick of weed and a few casing in the trunk of the perps car.
Judge: How did you find it?
Officer: Well sir, I asked if I could search the car after a routine traffic stop, the perp said yes and I proceeded to the trunk. Found a few casings, decided to call a k9 unit in and then found the dope.
Judge: Well son, did you give legal consent for your car to be searched?
Defendant: Hell no old man, like I told whitey in the suit, ain't no one allowed on my ride.
Judge: Well, after careful consideration of the evidence, I am going to have to find you guilty of possession of and also contempt of court and purgery for lying.
Now nothing like this has ever happened to me. Worst was catching an officer lying in the middle of court when I actually fought a speeding ticket and had 3 witnesses, and video. I was driving to my brother's wedding with some other family members and friends and bringing a video camera along. While on the highway, a car very similar to mine zooms right past me on in the left lane flying down the street. A cop going the opposite direction tags that car, but can't cross to our side of the highway immediately to give chase because of the barrier. He has to go about a mile or so down and OUT OF SIGHT to find an opening in the barrier, and comes back up and pulls me over and hands me the ticket. Of course, I fight it, ask for a trial by judge, bring in my 3 witnesses, my video evidence, and the cop "loses" his video evidence. I still get fined. When I asked the judge at the end, what swayed his decision, he said, "because your story and the officer's didn't match."
Well no shyt sherlock.
Stupid small hick towns in south texas with hick officers and hick judges that bend their laws to suit their own needs half the time. Least when it comes to raising revenue through speeding tickets.
