do I have a harrassment case?

[shilderb]

What is the name of your state? FL sunshine state!

I want to thank everyone in advance. This all happened a couple of hours ago. I went to pick up my friend from her house at 11pm... the roads were a little wet due to rain earlier. Anyway, I picked her up and we were going back to my house. I turned on my blinker to take a left turn and the light turned yellow, I was driving slow at that time and didn't want to run a light so I went ahead and stopped. As I stopped I heard some tires behind me skid on the road, I thought the car was going to hit me.
Anyway, the light turned green and I proceeded to turn. I drove for about 50-75 yards never once passing the speed limit (actually stayed a couple under) when all of a sudden the car that skidded turned on its lights and pulled me over.
Unfortunately my license is currently suspended and I was driving on a business permit. I had trouble finding my registration but the cop took the papers I was able to give him and ran back to his car to run a check. 5 minutes later another officer showed up at the scene and I saw him leaned over on the arresting officer's door laughing about something. I found my registration and waved it at him. When the officer came to my window I asked him why I was pulled over
"I'm not the one that pulled you over, but that doesn't matter anyway you know we throw you in jail for this, officer so-n-so will let you know why" Now I had to leave for school at 5:30 the next morning and jail was the last place I wanted to go... the officer effectively shut my mouth. Before they even asked I told the cops they could search my car... I honestly had nothing to hide and thought they may let me loose if I was over cooperative. I had NOTHING to drink and kept my composure the whole time (at least I like to think so but my heart was racing). Anyway they took the opportunity to search my car and found nothing. But they proceeded to write me a citation for driving on a suspended license.

My question is can they pull you over for no reason at all? The officers involved never gave me a reason and the one time I asked they threatened to throw me in jail. Is there a harrasment/profiling case or should I just bite the bullet and take it where the sun doesn't shine? thanks all

steve

 

[CdwJava]

My question is can they pull you over for no reason at all?

What makes you think the officer had no reason to pull you over? All because he gave you no reason does not mean that he did not HAVE a reason. There could be a number of reasons why he stopped you ... impeding traffic ... unsafe turning ... bad lights ... ran your tags and found your license was suspended ... who knows?

If you go to court you can obtain a copy of any report in discovery and that should contain the reason for the stop. And if it is a traffic court issue, then he would have to articulate that on the stand.

The short answer is that an officer needs reasonable suspicion that you are involved in unlawful activity to detain you on a traffic stop.

The officers involved never gave me a reason and the one time I asked they threatened to throw me in jail. Is there a harrasment/profiling case or should I just bite the bullet and take it where the sun doesn't shine?

You have not given any reason to believe that this is a case of profiling based upon your perceived inclusion in a protected class of individuals. So profiling probably isn't an issue.

"Harassment" is a generic term that means little. If he made an unlawful detention then it would be an unlawful detention. But, I'm gonna guess that the officer will articulate some reason for the stop ... whether you agree with his reason or not is debatable, but so long as he articluates it successfully, you're done.

The bottom line was that you shoul dnot have been driving on a suspended license. In many (most?) states you CAN go to jail for that.

- Carl

 

[shilderb]

I was being careful not to break any traffic laws. my lights are all fine. you're right I am in a protected class of citizens but the girl I picked up isn't quite as fortunate. I believe he was tailing me when I left her neighborhood thinking that because a white kid going into a black neighborhood is there for one reason.. drugs. Which was not the reason at all. Carl I appreciate your post bud I was afraid I'd hear something along those lines though. He took my passport (what I've been using as an ID) back to his car to run checks on it before he knew for sure that I had a suspended license (I did tell him before that but I don't believe they can check the status of your license through your tags - I could be wrong though) - anyway he spent a good 20 minutes in his car which leads me to figure that's when he concluded I had a suspended license. I guess I'm just frustrated that although I had not broken any visible traffic laws I was still pulled over. Especially when he nearly rear ended me thinking I was going to run a light.
Thanks again for your post though Carl

 

[CdwJava]

Then all you can do is hire an attorney and challenge the detention. But, since you honestly do not know what the officer knew or when he knew it - or even why he really stopped you - you may be throwing good money after bad. Your only possible hope to beat a criminal offense for the driving on a suspended license is to argue that he had no reason to stop you. Frankly, that's gonna be tough to do. And even if your license plate light is working now, it does not mean that it was working properly then or that it was bright enough to illuminate your plate.

In any event, you have to decide if the matter is worth spending $2,000 or more on an attorney.

- Carl