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We live in Opp, AL. My Suburban broke down at the local gas station and my husband and I informed the attendant that we needed to go and get help taking it home and we'd be back for it. We locked the truck up and left. When we returned, the attendant informed us that the cops from nearby Andalusia had been out there with a drug dog trying to pry our windows down and using a tire tool to break in through the back door of our Suburban. Then today, when my husband had the Suburban at work. He and his boss had left to get a part for a car they were working on. He had left the Suburban unlocked and when they returned, the same cops had showed up with a detective and had the doors open on the truck and were rummaging through it. We called the Andalusia detective that had been at the scene and all he would tell us is that he was looking for the driver of our Suburban. My husband told him that that was him. The detective said that he was not looking for my husband. We carry nothing illegal.

2007-04-18 14:32:42 · 11 answers · asked by chandler_nellie 1 in Politics & Government Law Enforcement & Police

Nothing on the truck was broken. But there are marks on the back door from where they tried to pry it open with the tire tool. No one has borrowed our truck since we purchased it in February. We bought it from a friend who was selling it for his brother who lives in Florida.

2007-04-18 14:55:15 · update #1

My husband called the detective because the cops would not answer any questions at the scene. Not even the detective. They were told to stay back and that is why he called him later. We do know that they were the same cops because the car numbers were the same as were the descriptions of the cops at both scenes.

2007-04-18 16:28:44 · update #2

11 answers

no they cannot. Without a warrant, permission or cause. Now if there was a kilo of cocaine sitting in the drivers seat in plain sight thats a bit different, but I'm going out on a limb and assuming thats not the case, lol.
Now if they had cause to believe that the driver of the vehicle was involved in something that can somewhat change the rules.
I would file a complaint asap, if something like that is happening something needs to be done.

2007-04-18 14:42:42 · answer #1 · answered by Chrissy 7 · 0 0

1

2016-06-11 15:11:21 · answer #2 · answered by Terrence 3 · 0 0

OK lets look at the 4th amendment and some exceptions to the rules.

As you know the 4th amendment bars the government from illegal search and seizure. So can the police look through the car with out you being there no unless they have a search warrant.

Now there is a vehicle exception that the supreme court has addressed.

That is that if an officer smells narcotics because a vehicle can drive off it may be searched without a search warrant because the courts have said that once the officer leaves to go get the search warrant the vehicle can just leave. On the issues of police k-9's. The police can search a vehicle if a police k-9 alerts on the vehicle without the owners consent.

That rule also falls under the vehicle exception.

Now here's the kicker. What the police there did to you violated your 4th amendment rights not once but twice. The officers were at a unattended parked vehicle with no one around. The officers had no reason to believe that the vehicle could leave or would leave. Due to that they should have obtained a search warrant to look into the vehicle. One officer could have sat with the vehicle securing it, and the other could have gone for the search warrant. Then they could have looked in it without you being there.

With what they did violated your federal rights....

2007-04-18 14:58:01 · answer #3 · answered by richard s 2 · 0 3

1: You don't know it was the same officers because you don't know who the officers at the gas station were. (You never saw them).
2. If a drug dog 'hit' on the car at the station, they had probable cause to search the vehicle.
3. If the dog 'hit' on an unattended car, the would have towed the car to impound to search, not just left.
4. A warrant, based on the dog, would allow them to search the car.
5. If your husband was AT the scene at work, why did he CALL the detective that was ALSO at the scene instead of just talking to him at the scene?
This story simply doesn't make sense to me.

2007-04-18 15:47:07 · answer #4 · answered by STEVEN F 7 · 2 0

Round up statements and get a lawyer and file charges against the police department. THAT is an illegal search. You can bring the dog in and walk around any vehicle, that is legal. BUT, to try and open up a vehicle without a warrant, well, that is crossing the line.

Also, police can do a plain sight search. If its visible by looking in a window, its a legal search.

Sounds like this department needs a lesson in Police Procedures. Go out of town and talk to a legal beagle and get some advice. I would get statements notarized by these people who witnessed the search and have them with me.

2007-04-18 14:39:34 · answer #5 · answered by George C 4 · 3 1

"OMG" I would be so P'O"d it's not even funny,what was it "Rookie Day"?You better go straight to the top on this one,who ever is as high up the ladder as it goes around where your from and they better pay for the damages to your car,and you know what? I don't think what they did was at all legal because they would have to have a search warrant for that particular individual and "HELLO" maybe make sure they had the right individual before they broke your window and rummaged through all your personal belongings,I would fight for my rights,write a letter to the editor of the paper in the town you live in and put up the biggest fight with law enforcement,because what they did was wrong,stupid,and a very bad judgment call from those who are supposed to "protect and serve"

2007-04-18 14:42:15 · answer #6 · answered by FYIIM1KO 5 · 0 2

Most likely friends brother was using it for running drugs, and it still had the drug smell in it. If the drug dog barked saying there was drugs in it, that is grounds to search in msot states.

2007-04-18 16:21:11 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1 0

Don't forget to file a claim for all damages caused by the Police. Attach copies of receipts to your claim.

2007-04-18 14:40:46 · answer #8 · answered by zoomat4580 4 · 0 0

no probable cause? no warrant? hmmm... I would want a logical explaination for it.
Has anybody borrowed your vehicle lately that might have broken the law with it somehow?
Something is very odd.

2007-04-18 14:38:26 · answer #9 · answered by lost_but_not_hopeless 5 · 1 0

I'd demand to see a warrant for them to do so. They're obviously following you, you should also demand what the interest is in you vehicle especially if they claim they're not interested in you.

2007-04-18 14:37:12 · answer #10 · answered by Corrine 2 · 1 0

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