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Marijuana possesion getting weird.

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redline2101

Junior Member
Pennsylvania, USA.

Here's the whole story of the encounter.

My friend and I (18,19 respectively), are walking to my friends house in his neighborhood. This is the friend I am with. We are walking up the street, 5 houses away form his, when a car approached us from behind and an officer yells to us, "Hey! Stay where you are!". We stop and walk to him. He immediately accuses me of being intoxicated, which I straight up deny. He asks us our names and where we're coming from. I give him my name, as does my friend, and we inform him we were just coming from another part of the neighborhood and that our residence is located a few houses down. He tells up to put our hands on his vehicle. I ask if I am under arrest or free to go, as we live only a few houses away. He responds with "At THIS TIME?! NO lawyer boy! Hands on the car." At this point he grabs my arm and I decide to just put my hands on the car. He does a simple pat down for weapons. He then, without saying a word, starts emptying my pockets onto the hood of his car. In the first pocket he pulls out, in this order, a lighter, a key, a grinder, and another key. He asks me if anything is in my other pocket, I say no. He searches it and pulls out my glass pipe. My friend just says theres "something" in his back pocket, and it is a bubbler.

At this point i am placed in handcuff and we are told to sit down until his backup arrives. They run our records and see we are entirely clean of any charge ever. One officer gives us his card and tells us to come into his office Monday (tomorrow as of this post) and think about where we got it from, and possibly if we help them, they might help us. Also LAWYERS NEED NOT GET INVOLVED.

A few red flags here, as we were in no way suspicious. No curfew was in place, we were in an extremely nice non-violent neighborhood, minding our own business about to go inside. I was under the impression that a pat-down or "terry search" was only valid with articulable evidence that I might be armed and dangerous. I'm still trying to figure out why I was not allowed to end the interaction in the first place as I had done nothing wrong.
 


Mass_Shyster

Senior Member
Pennsylvania, USA.

Here's the whole story of the encounter.

My friend and I (18,19 respectively), are walking to my friends house in his neighborhood. This is the friend I am with. We are walking up the street, 5 houses away form his, when a car approached us from behind and an officer yells to us, "Hey! Stay where you are!". We stop and walk to him. He immediately accuses me of being intoxicated, which I straight up deny. He asks us our names and where we're coming from. I give him my name, as does my friend, and we inform him we were just coming from another part of the neighborhood and that our residence is located a few houses down. He tells up to put our hands on his vehicle. I ask if I am under arrest or free to go, as we live only a few houses away. He responds with "At THIS TIME?! NO lawyer boy! Hands on the car." At this point he grabs my arm and I decide to just put my hands on the car. He does a simple pat down for weapons. He then, without saying a word, starts emptying my pockets onto the hood of his car. In the first pocket he pulls out, in this order, a lighter, a key, a grinder, and another key. He asks me if anything is in my other pocket, I say no. He searches it and pulls out my glass pipe. My friend just says theres "something" in his back pocket, and it is a bubbler.

At this point i am placed in handcuff and we are told to sit down until his backup arrives. They run our records and see we are entirely clean of any charge ever. One officer gives us his card and tells us to come into his office Monday (tomorrow as of this post) and think about where we got it from, and possibly if we help them, they might help us. Also LAWYERS NEED NOT GET INVOLVED.

A few red flags here, as we were in no way suspicious. No curfew was in place, we were in an extremely nice non-violent neighborhood, minding our own business about to go inside. I was under the impression that a pat-down or "terry search" was only valid with articulable evidence that I might be armed and dangerous. I'm still trying to figure out why I was not allowed to end the interaction in the first place as I had done nothing wrong.
Some of what you have stated is correct. The police need be able to articulate their reasonable suspicion for the stop and frisk.

You don't know what information the officer had. It's possible you fit the description of someone who had just committed a crime. That would provide sufficient reasonable suspicion for the stop, and if the crime was committed with weapons, enough for the frisk. I suspect if you end up in court over this, the officer WILL be able to articulate his reasons.

Now you are left with some choices:
  • Go in and lie to him
  • Ignore the request to go talk with him
  • Go in with a lawyer
  • Go see him but refuse to provide any information
  • Tell him where you "got it from" (whatever "it" is, you never said)

The first option is a really bad one, as that would be obstruction, another crime itself. Ignoring it may be a bad thing too. Generally, ignoring legal matters is never a good idea. The only way this would be a good idea is if he's forgotten about it. That would require additional knowledge that you don't have. If you tend to win lotteries, this may work for you.
 
Get an attorney. Now. Say nothing to the police without your attorney present.

Having an attorney is your right. Exercise it.

This rap about "Hey you don't need an attorney" and "We'll go easy on you if you don't get a lawyer" is BS. Cops do this all the time to trick suspects into talking. Cops are allowed to lie to you. Remember, "Anything you say...will be used against you in a court of law."
 
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redline2101

Junior Member
So I have not contacted the officer. He has not tried to contact me. I contacted an attorney who told me to not say anything yet until I meet with her. Thank god I came on here instead of assuming I had to go in. Still not out of the clear though I'm thinking.
 

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