if you are arrested for driving on a suspended drivers license can the police search your car w/out asking?

Question

It was 1:30AM had just picked up a friend and his girlfriend officer saw this. followed us for 1 block turned on his lights I pulled into a walgreens store parking lot he said I was being stopped for no license plate light I said I had just checked it a few hours earlier and it was woking. He asked for my license registration and proof of insurance. I gave him lic. & reg. and told him I have insurance but dont have the proof card. He went to his car came back said I was under arrest for driving on a suspended license searched and cuffed me and put me in the back of his car. He then began searching my car w/out my permission. Inside my closed backpack he found drugs. I am a convicted drug felon but that was a long time ago and am not on any type of probation. When my car was picked up by a friend 15 min. later he noticed both my license plate lights were working fine. I was charged w/poss. of drugs but not driving on a suspended license. The officer lied about why he pulled me over.

Answer 1

Yep they lied about why they pulled you over, but you will never be able to prove it.

Normally they will inventory your car at your arrest so that all of your belongings will be accounted for. That is not a search but an inventory, but ooops, they may also find illegal things during that inventory.

Actually I can't understand why your car was not impounded and towed, anytime I arrested anyone on a suspended licence and no proof of insurance, the car would be towed in and impounded.

So what happeneed, they suspected you of something, most liekly had a tip, they stoped you and found you on suspended licnece, so they could arrest you, Then they ran you though the NCIC, they saw you were a convicted felon with previous drug conviction, so they suspect you have drugs,

A real good expensive lawyer may help you out, but I would say that working out a plea agreeemnt and turning over your connection would be the best way out of all trouble.

Answer 2

Fr Chuck is right, but might have missed one point. Since appx 1984, the Supreme Court has found that the interior of a car can be searched, without consent, when the driver is detained for a moving violation. Here, you were detained for a moving violation. Inside a backback is also ok to search.

So, with any stop, the police can search the interior of the vehicle with or without your permission (and also without the need to impound the vehicle).

Now, if nothing had been found in the backpack, and they really wanted to get you, they could then arrest and impound the car (that way they could go into the trunk and closed containers, for your, um, own protection).

You might have some defenses here, but your attorney will know more about it than I.

Incidentally, the first step will be to exclude for improper stop (no probable cause). I would assume that the officer will not testify that he recognized you (if he knew who you are, the information known to any member of the police that you were suspended), would support the stop. Otherwise, it will be the police officer's word against your friend's word. Golly, which one will the judge believe at the suppression motion?

Good luck.

Answer 3

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Answer 4

An officer has a couple of choices when it comes to the disposition of a vehicle, when the driver/owner is arrested. He can tow the vehicle, by a wrecker service, which would cost you money. Or, he can release it to a licensed person.
As far as searching the vehicle. Yes he can..Its called "Search incident to an arrest". Once your arrested, its his duty to check the vehicle for any illegal items, drugs, weapons, etc. and then secure it, by one of the above mentioned means.
As for Driving While Suspended, he doesn't have to give you a ticket, or charge you, all he has to do is prove(by computer) that your license was suspended.
As far as your lights go, I've been in situations where there is a short in the wiring..sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Its one of those deals where the Courts usually take the word of the Officer over the violator..
Nine times out of ten you'll be convicted of the drug charge. After all he has them in evidence.

Answer 5

Anytime you are arrested, you and your vehicle can and most likely will be searched. You were driving with a suspended license, which means you were breaking the law. Don't break the law in the first place and these things won't happen! You should be thankful. The vast majority of car insurance companies will not insure a suspended driver, so I am guessing you have no valid insurance either. He could have charged you with driving while suspended and driving uninsured, and should've impounded your vehicle. Don't ask for sympathy or play the victim when you broke the law by driving and possessing drugs.

Answer 6

You can really tell the former terrorists in blue in their answers; they believe that you should be sent to jail for 99 years; they allege that because their ends justified the illegal search, then the COPS have no problem. Pretext searches are unconsitutional. Inventory searches can only take place if your car is impounded, but the police have no authority to impound your car is it is parked in a place that is not unlawful or pose a possible hazard. The police officer (terrorist) who would have impounded your vehicle would have violated your consitutional rights, but since he was never taken to task on his illegal conduct, he presumed that he could get away with it perpetually. I would have had him before a federal judge in a Title 42 action before the ink could have dried on his bogus police report.

There was one lady who, under former constitutional law, was correct. "The police cannot search your car but upon probable cause." The Supreme Court has ruined the Fourth amendment by allowing searches based upon 'reasonable suspicion.' Police are also supposed to announce their intent and purpose before they bash down your door in executing a search warrant, but the terrorists are so blatant, now, that even on the COPS Show, (which is a joke), the door comes down before the word "warrant" comes out of the terrorist's mouth.

Of course, the courts will never prosecute a COP for perjury; that is part of their job; they are taught to falsify evidence and the art of perjury at the academy.

However, if your friend looked at the tag light as being in working order, and has other witnesses to testify to that fact (expecially if it was looked at by a mechanic), then the pretext search can be shown to be illegal and the evidence should be suppressed.

Good luck in your endeavors, and stay off the stuff; it can do nothing for you.

Answer 7

This can be as little as a ticket, if you have a passenger who has a lic: and can drive home, or they can inpound the car, and even put a hold on the car for 30days. Which means it could cost you the ticket, fines, and getting your car back, which unless you get a lic: which driving on a supended lic: you may not be able to do for 6 months as part of the penalty. You might have to sign over the car to someone who has a lic: Even at $10-$25 a day you are looking at over $1,000 or more, unable to even get a lic: and maybe jail time is possible. Maybe 3 days maybe 30 days.

Answer 8

The liar got ya huh.Its a shame and I'm sorry for you.A man ,not bothering anybody.Just gonna go home and get high with a couple of friends.Not murder,not burglary,not rape,not bothering NO body.It's a shame.My friend,there are a lot of real bad people out there that they could go after,but there isnt no money in catching murderers and rapest.Plus them guys are dangerous,and cops are cowards.Bottom line,IT'S A MONEY THING.
They have the right to search your car and lie in court,you have no rights.You dont have the right to remain silent,I didn't answer there questions and was arrested for"Resiting an officer".



Best of luck to you.

Answer 9

A search incidental to arrest typically extends to anything you had within arms reach before you were arrested, including purses/backpacks etc. If the department has an inventory policy for towed cars, they will log everything in the vehicle including the trunk, under the hood etc.

Answer 10

A police officer can't search your car without probable cause. That is against the law. Now, if you gave permission he could. Seems to me he was on a mission.