police

[jennchavez]

What is the name of your state? california
is it legal for the police to come up to your car in my case a van when i am in a public parking lot a hotel with all doors shut getting my things together to put into my room is it legal for them to come up to my van and just open the doors then saying who they are after they opened it no knock first and have me get out never giving reason as to why and then start questioning me looking in side with their flashlight however not yet themselves going inside but just visually looking in before asking consent to look in there?and do they need to ask permission to look inside of my purse or can they just do so?

 

[stephenk]

what time did this happen? what were the police asking you? did you ever figure out why you were being questioned? were you charged with any crime?

 

[jennchavez]

it was around 5pm they just asked what wewe were doing there we told them we were getting a room.then they flashed their flashlight in the van saw a weed pipe and then from there they searched the van i was aressed for possesion. Iv got court on the 10th of this month thats why i was wondering if they had the right to just open the door of a closed van and if there were anything that could dismiss the case.
thank you,
jennifer chavez

 

[JETX]

And what did your defense attorney say when you asked him your questions???

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state? california
is it legal for the police to come up to your car in my case a van when i am in a public parking lot a hotel with all doors shut getting my things together to put into my room is it legal for them to come up to my van and just open the doors then saying who they are after they opened it no knock first and have me get out never giving reason as to why and then start questioning me looking in side with their flashlight however not yet themselves going inside but just visually looking in before asking consent to look in there?and do they need to ask permission to look inside of my purse or can they just do so?

**A: probable cause.

 

[jennchavez]

i havent gone to court yet or talked to anyone

 

[HomeGuru]

i havent gone to court yet or talked to anyone

**A: oh, so you are exercising your right to remain silent?

 

[Bravo8]

What concerns me about your situation is the police just opening the door to your car. The police have every right to approach you and engage you in a conversation. You have every right to ignore them, assuming this is a mere encounter and the police possess no reasonable suspicion or probable cause that a crime is occuring or about to occur.

If the police are legally standing where they are when they look into your car, then yes that is legal too. Plain view doctrine and such. No need for PC or consent to look inside the car.

Upon seeing the pipe in plain view, they have obtained the necessary PC to conduct a warrantless search of your car.

One could make an argument that opening the door constituted a search, if the police did not have PC to perform a search absent a warrant.

Was it possible for the police to see the pipe prior to opening the door?

 

[netio]

I agree with the above post.

It all comes down to what the police saw before they opened your car's door. If, for example, they could see smoke coming out of your car (if you were smoking), that'd probably be enough for them to use as a reason for search.

They probably had good reason for opening your car's door. I can't see them opening car's door without any reason.

 

[JETX]

I agree with the above post.

You're in CANADA!!! Who cares if you agree or not??

 

[HomeGuru]

It's foolio from Canada again.

 

[JETX]

Yep, say goodbye to the idiot who doesn't know that Canada is NOT a part of the USA..... yet.