I was minding my own business, but cop came up to me and....?

Question

So I was in a parking lot of a Grocery Store at 2 am the other night just in my car listening to my music quietly and doing some school work because I have a hard time sleeping at night and this cop pulls up and parks behind me. He comes up and starts asking me dumb random questions.
I told him that I have nothing and I'm doing nothing illegal. Just here listening to my music reading a book, cause I usually can't sleep until late and I dont want to go home. He kept asking me why I was sitting here. So I asked him what the big deal is? He says, this is private property and the grocery store is closed, you cant be here. There was no sign saying private property and everyone has to leave when the store closes. He then told me to leave, so I took off. I don't want trouble. Is the cop right? Where can I go in my car and sit if I don't want to go home? If I go for example to a 24 Mcdonalds parking, then its ok? Anyone know the "law" regarding this matter? Gee, I can't just park?

Excuse me, I meant to say "24 HOUR Mcdonalds" Not "24 Mcdonalds" thank you.

WHERE CAN I GO AND SIT IN MY CAR IF I DON"T WANT TO GO HOME?!!!!???

Answer 1

Pretty much every parking lot is SOMEONE's private property. You can't normally just park for hours on end in a McDonald's parking lot either.

Answer 2

The police officer was only doing his job in this case. A car sitting in an empty parking lot at 2:00 am is very suspicous to a police officer. He was only making sure that everything was fine. I am sure that the parking lot is for customers of the grocery store only, at that time of night that should not have been any customers and the store and the parking lot would be closed. You did the right thing by leaving the parking lot and not giving him anymore attitue than you already did. A 24 hour parking lot is a much better idea, but you can still get into trouble then becuase most parking lots are for customers of that store only. So go into mcdonalds, get some fries, and sit in the car and eat them.

Answer 3

Try to imagine that you are the cop and you saw a guy sitting in his car at 2a.m. You would go and check it out. HOWEVER, the cop was a jerk to make you leave. I mean he came up to you asked you a bunch of questions and determined that you are harmless, so he could have just left you alone, but he kicked you out of the lot. It's kinda like a cop giving someone a ticket for going 1 mile over the speed limit. They broke the law by going over the speed limit, but they should be ignored, because that is just dumb to pull someone over for going 36mph in a 35. You are not supposed to be there at 2am and its ok for him to come up and check to see if everything is ok but he could have just let you stay there.
Next time go to Mcdonalds, because now they are 24 hours, order something and stay in the parking lot. You can NOT be told to leave. Even if it is at 4 am, Mcdonalds is still open, so you can order something, and park and listen to the music or whatever.

Answer 4

The officer was doing his job! Cops are supposed to be out there asking questions and poking their nose around, that is what keeps criminals that are looking for victims under control. Most people (not just cops) would think its a little suspicous for some dude to be sitting in his car alone at 2 in the morning in the middle of a parking lot of a closed business. Park on the street which is public if you want to park, but just understand an officer will probably contact you until they get used to you, "Oh that's that student who likes to study late at night" and drive on.

Answer 5

As others have already stated, you were loitering. There is nothing wrong with parking and reading a book, if you're doing it in a public place. It may sound silly to you, but the grocery store owns that parking lot and when the store is closed there is no reason for anyone to be hanging out there. If you were to park in the lot of a business that was open and you had permission from the proprietor, then you would be fine.

Answer 6

The parking lot of ANY business is the private property of that business. Sitting in an empty parking lot at 2:00am IS suspicious and YOU already knew that. About the only place you can park that is NOT private property is a rest stop off an interstate highway. I would not recommend hanging out there for very long either.

Answer 7

Your suspicious action parked in a vacant parking lot at 2 am. The cop wanted to catch you off guard. They often do that like follow you for a few blocks to see if you will start behaving differently, same thing if he came to tell you something obvious then you freaked out he would know something is up. He was checking on you and doing his job. Go home and sleep at 2 am and this won't be a problem.

Answer 8

Basically, you're loitering. The people at the store were probably concerned....maybe they thought you were homeless and needed help.

If you like to sit in your car, go somewhere that you won't be on anyone's property. During the day you can go to a public park or the library. At night, there's very little choice.

Don't take it personally, it seems like your community is looking out for everyone's safety. That's a good thing.

Answer 9

loitering is not allowed. Also if you want to come across as guilty of something by all means begin with "I was minding my own business when this cop..." then follow that up about 2 in the morning.
Other than that I get you cuz I remember when I used to sit in my car in parking lots at 2 in the morning reading my Bible... See, don't I just come across as full of crap?

Answer 10

what you did was called RS
''reasonable suspition'' it means it is unnormal for somebody to be in a car doing anything after dark in someones property or anywhere. Police know that most of the time in your situation people are doing something illegal.

3+ YEARS LAW ENFORCEMENT STUDENT