Can the police stop you for this?

Question

I was driving at around 1:10 Am On Nov. I had just picked up my friends girlfriend and was bringing her home. I went thru a parking lot that is connected to the condo complex she was at. I noticed a police cruiser on the other side of this parking lot. I proceeded over a few speed bumps (going slower than 5MPH) when he turned his car on and followed me. He ended up stoping me for "having blankets in my car" I asked him whats wrong with that he said he thinks were hideing something. I ask him to search my car his reply was "thats not what im here for". I was written a ticket for being out 10minutes after the legal time (1:00 am) and given a court date.

Was this a legal stop or illegal?

also he wrote the wrong name of the street he put derry rd. When i went back the next day i noticed the street was haverhill st.

should i fight this?

EDIT: As some of you have said "Your blankets could have been obstucting his view of the car"
1. His lights were off i was behind a shoping plaza with no lights back there. The backdrop was woods and im guessing at 1am the moon is close to dead above.
2. I know where haverhill street is but i dont know where derry st even is in that town. I went to that police departments website and looked at some of their records of streets with the most "illegal" activity and derry st was one of them. But i was driving on a small road (30mph) at the time he turned his lights on.

You may argue that it was when he started to folow me but he started behind the shoping plaza like i stated earlyer.

I folowed every single driving rule exactly I crossed no parking spaces came to a complete stop and blinkered correctly. I drove just like i did for the DMV the roads speed limit was 30 i did 29.
He told me i didnt commit and driving errors. On the ticket where he fills in the reason for the stop he chose other and wrote " Driver was age 16 and violated the 1-5am curfew law" can any super police officer guess how old i am with their lights off across a parking lot?
We should give you a round of applause if you can.

Good answers by everyone. But saying that he stoped me because he thought i was up to no good is horse crap. He folowed me for a good 3 or 4 minutes before stoping me. The reason i was back there? The condo complexs exit emptys into a parking lot behind a plaza that you MUST go thru.

Answer 1

Late at night, young kid driving slowly through a parking lot with blankets obscuring the inside of your vehicle:

I think either the officer didn't explain himself clearly or you misunderstood him. He didn't pull you over simply for having blankets in the window. He pulled you over because you looked suspicious. Perfectly legal if an officer can articulate why he thinks a car is suspicious and he could do so easily for the above reasons..

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

This may not be the answer you are looking for, but here is what most likely happened...

You were pulled over because you were driving behind a shopping center at 1:00AM. Is that legal? Unfortunately yes. From what you told me the officer would easily be able to articulate that area as a "high crime area", and your vehicle being behind a shopping center at that time of night would obviously be classified as "suspicious" behaivor.

Once you were pulled over though, I'm sure the officer realized that you weren't breakin into the shopping center, robbing people, or selling drugs so that's why he didn't bother searching you car. He did realize however that you were too young to be out that late, and so you were issued a citation for that.

On the topic of fighting the ticket -- you can always fight it, but you won't win in your case... Here's why:

1.) Frankly the officer is allowed to just come up to you and ask you for ID at ANY time. So you're not going to get anywhere with the argument that it wasn't a legal stop.

2.) The street name on the ticket was most likely just a mistake, but unlike common misconceptions you can not beat a ticket just because the officer made a mistake... that happens all the time. I've gotten people's names wrong before on tickets, and what happens is they come to court and fight it, and then the judge asks them what their real name is, and we issue a new ticket to them at that time with the correct name... they don't beat the whole charge just because a mistake was made....

Anyway -- Like I said, you probably don't want to hear the "police" side of the story, but in case you did there it is. My recomendation... Pay the ticket... you were out 10 mins after curfew, regardless of the circumstances that in your town must be against the law.

Answer 4

Well, the ticket seems to be valid, if the violation cited is a curfew violation.

However, he needed proper reason to stop you. Were you cutting across the parking lot, or did you follow the traffic instructions throughout the lot? If he cannot cite a specific reason for the stop, then the ticket will be dismissed. FYI, 'blankets in your car' would not be a valid reason to stop you unless they were hindering your ability to operate the motor vehicle, i.e: the blankets were disrupting your range of vision, etc. If the blankets were below the line of sight, i.e. on the floorboard, sitting on the backseat, etc., then the officer did not have sufficient reason to stop you.

Having written the wrong street name may or may not be something the judge will take into consideration, but if you can prove the officer did, in fact, document the wrong place of infraction, this will go toward the officer's credibility. If you can create doubt around the officer's credibility, your odds of winning dramatically increase. But, don't offend the judge with endless comments about cops - keep it simple and focused.

IMO, I believe you can fight and win this, with the proper documentation (to clarify the street error, go take pics of the parking lot & street, just in case the judge wants to see himself). If you are going to fight this, be sure to have anyone that was with you at the time of the citation accompany you to court as a witness.

Good luck!

Answer 5

The Officer had reasonable cause to stop you. You stated that you were driving in a shopping plaza area at 0100 with blankets in your back seat. The Officer had the suspicion that you may be up to know good and stopped you to determine why you were there at that late hour. What might seem unfair or illogical to you is very understandable and reasonable to those in the Law Enforcement profession. A relatively minor stop may quickly escalate into something larger. It happens all the time. The issue of the wrong address listed on the ticket is immaterial. The fact is you were out past a certain you were legally allowed. One fact does not cancel out the other.

Answer 6

Depending on what state you are in, in most cases, if there is anything on the ticket that is wrong information, you can get the ticket thrown out. My question would be, is Derry Rd. near Haverhill St.? If it is, then you probably won't win that one. But actually a cop can make any excuse to pull you over, especially if he thinks there are underage kids in the car after curfew. They can get quite creative. It really doesn't sound like something that I would even bother fighting, unless of course the fine is outrageously high.
You didn't state your age or state. But honestly, I would go to court, face the judge, point out that the street is incorrect, tell him what you were doing, and see what he says. It isn't like you are being charged with anything other than being out too late.
Good luck.

Answer 7

The police can pull you over for anything they want, heck one could pull you over just to chat, but they cannot write a ticket for anything they want. Most disputes between the cops and people is over the ticket and if the cop got the evidence for the ticket legally (such as illegally searching a car without consent or probable cause then finding pot inside of it). You have nothing to fight over since all the cop had to do was look at his watch and see that you were over curfew and then give you the ticket. And on the street thing its just common info they have to put down in case they need to go over again or for a time and place in court (if for some reason you have to go) It's the cops mistake and unless you plan on being in court soon i would worry about it, even if you did have to go to court the wrong street name would not effect you at all.

Answer 8

Sorry buddy, It's illegal to cut through parking lots in order to avoid even a stop sign. Technically, the mistake re: street name might hold up, but my advice is admit when you're wrong and get on with it. The ticket will probably be reduced to a noisy muffler or something. Probably not a good idea to invite the search of your vehicle at any time--especially if you don't know who or what's been brought into it. Other than that, don't be out after curfew--not ten minutes or two hours. Also, use our public roads, not private parking lots

Answer 9

Yes, were you driving after a curview? if not there is no set law - you can be out as late as you want, also they cant search your car unless there is a reason, its like if they want to search your car for drugs but dont see or smell any. in the news paper i see all the time so-and-so stopped because a car looked suspicous, so maybe they'll try and say some stuff like that. You can also state you were never on Haverhill street that night, and you were doing nothing wrong.

Answer 10

Start clapping...Age is good enough for a stop...What are you doing at a closed budiness parking lot? Burgarizing? Think about it...You people complain about everything. Here is a question for you...Your girlfriends friend, blankets, and going behind a closed business...What was going on?

EDIT...You said he waited 3-4 minutes. Now you tell an officer when and where to conduct a stop. how do you know what he was thinking. Maybe there had been burglaries in the area and he thought you were suspect. He could have been waiting for his secondary to get closer before stopping you. An officer can stop you when and where they feel it is necessary, not when you do. You again said you were behind aclosed business at 0100 hours. Get over it.