Car Search/Procedure/Paraphenalia

North Carolina

I am in college, and last summer, on a Sunday afternoon I was in the middle of a 5 hour drive back from a wedding with a friend, I was pulled over by a local cop going 52 in a 45. The officer immediately approached the car and...

Asked me to get out of the vehicle...
When I asked him why he responded more forcefully telling me to get out of the vehicle.
Asked me if I had any narcotics on my person or in the vehicle, to which i responded no.
Placed me in the police vehicle while he ran my license explaining that I he clocked me speeding.
I asked him if this was normal procedure. He said it was.
<while I was sitting in the cop car>
Two more cop cars arrived and the police took my passenger out of the car and began questioning him on the curb.
The officer in my car, asked me if he could search the car to which I agreed hoping it would get me out of a ticket with nothing to hide...
He ended up giving me a warning, and left me in the cruiser while he spent the next 20 minutes tearing, literally through my entire car and suitcases in the back seat.
<a 4th cop car arrives, i am still in a cruiser like a criminal, and we have been on the side of the road easily for 35mins>

the officer then comes to the cruiser explaining how he couldn't figure out how to open the trunk, to which i explain that i am not giving him permission to search the trunk and I have an appointment that I am now running late for.

All of the officers in unison, start yelling at me, what are you trying to hide? then that they already found paraphernalia in the cabin and they didn't need my permission to search the trunk.

I was shocked and confused, and stammered what? they repeated that they found paraphenalia and were searching it anyway. I asked them to explain and they said they found a "blunt" in the glove compartment. Being that I had just left a wedding I explained that what they found was a $12 Montecristo cigar, in its casing, from the wedding reception I had just left.

They insisted calling it a "blunt" and went into my crowded trunk and we spent the next hour (total hour and a half) being harassed by the cops then finally told we could go with our speeding warning.

Is that normal for a cop to put you in the cruiser for no obvious reason before he even runs the tags or the license?

Does a $12 cigar in its factory casing constitute paraphenalia and therefore void my constitutional right to be free from an unlawful search?

Finally, if they had found, lets say heroin, would the seizure and arrest held up in court?

If they did break proto call is there anything I can do other than filing a written complaint?

Thanks and Cheers.

Get a lawyer and ask him to move that the charges be dismissed based on an illegal search (trust me, you will not be able to do this on your own).

Or don't, since you were given a warning, and call the appropriate office to file a complaint.

Yertle8 said:

Or don't, since you were given a warning, and call the appropriate office to file a complaint.

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yep, that is what i was thinking.

I was just more curious if there was anyone on here familiar with police procedure/North Carolina and what parts if any were handled improperly.

fakeworest said:

yep, that is what i was thinking.

I was just more curious if there was anyone on here familiar with police procedure/North Carolina and what parts if any were handled improperly.

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You were speeding, then after being pulled over for it, you gave him permission to search your vehicle.

It is not illegal for them to act intimidating. Did you tell them how to open your trunk?

outonbail said:

You were speeding, then after being pulled over for it, you gave him permission to search your vehicle.

It is not illegal for them to act intimidating. Did you tell them how to open your trunk?

Click to expand...

bah, i gave them permission to search within the car. the trunk was locked and before they were in the act of entering/entered evoked my 4th amendment right for it not to be searched. I am actually not sure what the precedent on that would be. For instance if a cop asks you if he can look around your house and you say yes... then after getting tired of him in there you can request for him to leave, which if he has not seen anything that he could take as evidence of a criminal act to continue the search I believe he has to leave... even before he has dug through every cabinet nook and crany... not sure how this protection would transfer over to a vehicle though.

Further, If lets say the I had initially denied him the right to search the vehicle but a $12 Montecristo/Romeo and Juliet cigar in its factory casing was in plain view, would it constitute paraphernalia? allowing him to search the entire vehicle without my permission?

Finally, would be taken out of your car and placed in a cruiser for a good bit of time before your plates or license have been run within standard police procedure.

I realize that intimidation is a valuable police tool to trapping criminals incriminating themselves but I was just asking if anything was done wrong.

EDIT: no I did not. he finally realized the valet key on the ring wouldnt open it and he had to use the button by the drivers seat.