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Police searched my car… reasonable or unreasonable?
Anonymous6 views4 answers
A sheriff pulled me over on the highway awhile ago. I had 3 other passengers in the car, were all under 21. One of them was drunk and I was taking him home. I had not drank anything. There were no open containers or any alcohol in the car. My breath doesn't smell like alcohol obviously. The officer has me step out and searches me, then claims it smells like alcohol in the car (because of my friends breath). He then asks if he can search my vehicle and I said no. I also exercised my right to not have to tell him what's in my car. He asked if he could search it again and I said only if you have probable cause and he said that the smell of alcohol from my friend was enough to search the car. Then he went and searched my car.. was this a reasonable action for an officer to search?
The smell of alcohol in the vehicle probably gave the officer probable cause to search your vehicle. Appellate courts have been clear that there is a diminished expectation of privacy in an automobile.
Was it reasonable? The judge has the final say on that question.
Were you charged with some sort of crime? Your attorney can file a motion to suppress evidence and challenge the legality of the search,
The reasonableness or unreasonableness is something to be litigated. This will require the services of an attorney. You can begin your search by clicking on the "find a lawyer" tab above.
