Officer needs a reason to ask you to step out of the car: Pennsylvania vs. Mimms. Cops can ask you to exit the vehicle only if they have "objective observable facts to support a suspicion that criminal activity was afoot or that the occupants of the vehicle posed a threat to police safety" Neither was true at the time the car was pulled over. They could clearly see the temporary tags by the point in time that the car was stopped. They saw he had tags by the time they pulled him over. They had no reason and therefore |
Bullshit. The police only have the authority to act reasonably in proportion to the reasonable suspicion they used to justify the traffic stop. Without probable cause of a crime, they don’t have authority to order you out of your car or to search your car or to pepper spray you for asking why they stopped you or to threaten to shoot you for questioning their instructions. |
I haven't read all the pages of this thread and just saw the video for the first time yesterday.
Truly outrageous behavior by the cops. They have no right to terrorize people just because they are police. Sorry, if I have done NOTHING wrong, I don't have to do what you say just because you're a cop. This is America folks, not some dictatorship. You do not have the right to pepper spray me in the face without even saying what I'm accused of. Glad they were fired! They deserve worse. How much you want to bet that jerk abused people all the time. To people saying do what the cop says and don't resist no matter what – you are insane. |
Only in an authoritarian country or if you are white and the "suspect" is black. Seriously, YOU are part of the problem here. |
Police don't need PC to order you out of your car. You have no idea what you are talking about. |
Just reported. Caron watched his uncle Eric Garner murdered by the police over a cigarette in NYC. Yeah. I fully understand not stopping your car on a dark, country road. He wasn’t lying when he said he was afraid of them. He should be. Dirty cops kill people in broad daylight, imagine what they do in the dark without witnesses. |
True. They have a weapon and a partner and you don’t. You better comply ... but have your cell phone live streaming too, just in case. Or, have a posse. |
So obviously that means Nazario should've been tazed, amirite? |
They have to have reasonable suspicion based on facts, not a hunch or profiling. They had nothing. |
and they've been doing this to black people forever. When I moved to DC in the 90s, I worked for a defense firm and had a security clearance. My best friend also worked at that company and both of us had family who lived in a southern state. I first learned about DWB after I moved here. My friend was black. We both drove the same make/model Toyata and most holidays we each drove back and forth on 95 to head down south to visit our families. Every single time, she was stopped by the police. I'd never experienced that in my life. I remember when she told me about being pulled over 3 different times down and twice back. That happened to her on every single trip and it never happened to me. I had no idea this went on. She was never angry about it and several stops involved long waits as they searched her car. I remember being indignant chastising her for always letting them search her car and she rolled her eyes at my cluelessness, She was so used to this that she just shrugged it off. She was a very responsible analyst with high level clearances and was treated like a criminal any time she took a trip out of state. I can't imagine dealing with that. |
All this arguing is showing that the cops don't know the law. They don't but they live like they have the authority to interpret it the way they want. Most cops do not know the law. |
You think you know what you are talking about. See comment above. |
I was coming on here to say that since these pretextual stops profiling black drivers seem to be a permanent facet of policing, laws need to be changed to discourage traffic stops for minor offenses. That may prevent some civil rights abuses or unnecessary deaths of drivers.
I did a little digging and, amazingly, such a law actually did pass in the state of Virginia where I live. I had not heard about that law until now. Basically, as of the beginning of March 2021, the police cannot stop drivers for such minor offenses as a loud exhaust, tinted windows, or things dangling from your mirror. Here is a summary: "no law-enforcement officer may lawfully stop a motor vehicle for operating (i) without a light illuminating a license plate, (ii) with defective and unsafe equipment, (iii) without brake lights or a high mount stop light, (iv) without an exhaust system that prevents excessive or unusual levels of noise, (v) with certain sun-shading materials and tinting films, and (vi) with certain objects suspended in the vehicle. No evidence discovered or obtained as a result of such unlawful stop shall be admissible in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding. The bill also provides that no law-enforcement officer may lawfully stop, search, or seize any person, place, or thing solely on the basis of the odor of marijuana, and no evidence discovered or obtained as a result of such unlawful search or seizure shall be admissible in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding. https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?202+sum+SB5029 Apparently Northam passed a number of other policing reform laws in the wake of the G. Floyd incident and other similar incidents, including a ban against no-knock warrants: https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/all-releases/2020/october/headline-861097-en.html |
y'all are throwing around legal terms that have specific legal meanings without understanding. Probable Cause is not needed to pull you over. That is what is needed to arrest you. Reasonable suspicion of a violation of law is all that is needed to pull you over. Reasonable suspicion means something you can point to. That is all. "I thought he had no tag based on what I could see at night." That is enough to pull this guy over. The stop was legal. In fact there is no plate. It was affixed inside in the window. But once the stop is made, they get to investigate it. Even is they see the paper tag, they get to look at it, run it and see if it is legal. Once you are pulled over, the police can require you to leave you car if they have a reason to be concerned about their safety. Again, they just need something to point to. Here, the combo of the no plate, not stopping right away, and some hesitation on the part of the driver would justify removing him from the car. The place where this all goes off the rail and becomes improper and illegal is the use of the chemical agent. That cannot be justified no way, no how. Then they rough him up. Then they try to coerce him to give up his First Amendment rights in exchange for letting him go. |