I was arrested and I believe it was illegal

[Eric111e]

I live in Florida and the crime happened in Florida. I was arrested a few days ago for petit theft, possession of meth, and possession of cocaine. I will post some of my police report to get some opinions on here but I believe I was illegally detained, searched, and arrested. Pretty much I went into a Walmart with a backpack that they say "appears" to be empty. I get a shopping cart place some items in the shopping cart then go into some isles where they say they have no visuals of on camera then when I exit those isles I have nothing in my shopping cart then I leave the store and they state that my backpack "appears" to be full.
Now not one time did they see me putting anything in my backpack.
When I pass all points of sale, and just as I'm about to exit the store about 5 police officers come out of the security office and grab me. They take my backpack, pat me down, then precede to search my backpack and find items they claim I stole.
At no point do I answer their questions or incriminate myself.

So is this enough to detain, search, and arrest me? I don't think it is, I think my rights were violated but I need more opinions. Today I had my arraignment but it was moved forward a month because no information was filed by the state yet. Here is my police report.

 

[Eric111e]

On Sunday, ******, 2024, at approximately 2155 hours, I responded to Walmart located at ********""""""" in reference to a theft in progress.

Upon my arrival, I contacted Walmart Loss Prevention employee Ni****** Wy***. Wy******* stated that a white male was wearing a black shirt and khaki shorts while walking around the store. He has been known to conceal items inside of his backpack. While watching the live surveillance footage, you can see the white male entering the grocery lanes with items inside his cart, along with an empty backpack inside. The white male then went into a grocery lane that was not visible to the camera. The male then proceeded to the front of the store with a cart with no items besides the backpack, which appeared to be full. The male then put on the backpack and began walking towards the exit of the store, passing all points of sale. Wynn then stopped the male and brought him into the loss prevention office. The male was then identfied as Er***** M********* via his social security number. When asking M*****" where all the items went, that was in the cart he did not respond and looked towards the backpack. Officer V***** then opened the backpack and pulled out the following items One FAUX SUCC valued TADY GEDITER FAUY SUCCC valued at $7Ona FAUY SUCC valued

 

[quincy]

I live in Florida and the crime happened in Florida. I was arrested a few days ago for petit theft, possession of meth, and possession of cocaine. I will post some of my police report to get some opinions on here but I believe I was illegally detained, searched, and arrested. Pretty much I went into a Walmart with a backpack that they say "appears" to be empty. I get a shopping cart place some items in the shopping cart then go into some isles where they say they have no visuals of on camera then when I exit those isles I have nothing in my shopping cart then I leave the store and they state that my backpack "appears" to be full.
Now not one time did they see me putting anything in my backpack.
When I pass all points of sale, and just as I'm about to exit the store about 5 police officers come out of the security office and grab me. They take my backpack, pat me down, then precede to search my backpack and find items they claim I stole.
At no point do I answer their questions or incriminate myself.

So is this enough to detain, search, and arrest me? I don't think it is, I think my rights were violated but I need more opinions. Today I had my arraignment but it was moved forward a month because no information was filed by the state yet. Here is my police report.

On Sunday, ******, 2024, at approximately 2155 hours, I responded to Walmart located at ********""""""" in reference to a theft in progress.

Upon my arrival, I contacted Walmart Loss Prevention employee Ni****** Wy***. Wy******* stated that a white male was wearing a black shirt and khaki shorts while walking around the store. He has been known to conceal items inside of his backpack. While watching the live surveillance footage, you can see the white male entering the grocery lanes with items inside his cart, along with an empty backpack inside. The white male then went into a grocery lane that was not visible to the camera. The male then proceeded to the front of the store with a cart with no items besides the backpack, which appeared to be full. The male then put on the backpack and began walking towards the exit of the store, passing all points of sale. Wynn then stopped the male and brought him into the loss prevention office. The male was then identfied as Er***** M********* via his social security number. When asking M*****" where all the items went, that was in the cart he did not respond and looked towards the backpack. Officer V***** then opened the backpack and pulled out the following items One FAUX SUCC valued TADY GEDITER FAUY SUCCC valued at $7Ona FAUY SUCC valued

Yes, what was witnessed was enough to detain, search and arrest you.

You were smart not to answer any questions. You would be smart now to locate a criminal defense attorney in your area to assist you in responding to charges filed against you.

 

[LdiJ]

I live in Florida and the crime happened in Florida. I was arrested a few days ago for petit theft, possession of meth, and possession of cocaine. I will post some of my police report to get some opinions on here but I believe I was illegally detained, searched, and arrested. Pretty much I went into a Walmart with a backpack that they say "appears" to be empty. I get a shopping cart place some items in the shopping cart then go into some isles where they say they have no visuals of on camera then when I exit those isles I have nothing in my shopping cart then I leave the store and they state that my backpack "appears" to be full.
Now not one time did they see me putting anything in my backpack.
When I pass all points of sale, and just as I'm about to exit the store about 5 police officers come out of the security office and grab me. They take my backpack, pat me down, then precede to search my backpack and find items they claim I stole.
At no point do I answer their questions or incriminate myself.

So is this enough to detain, search, and arrest me? I don't think it is, I think my rights were violated but I need more opinions. Today I had my arraignment but it was moved forward a month because no information was filed by the state yet. Here is my police report.

Dude, you shoplifted, in a manner so foolish as to make it absolutely clear that you were shoplifting. Then, on top of that you did it while in possession of meth and cocaine.

You practically jumped up and down screaming that you were shoplifting, you were so obvious about it.

You need to stop posting on the internet about it and get yourself an attorney ASAP.

 

[quincy]

… He has been known to conceal items inside of his backpack. …

Eric111e, that you apparently have been caught concealing items in your backpack before is a very good indication that you need to lay off the drugs. They are making you stupid.

 

[Just Blue]

On Sunday, ******, 2024, at approximately 2155 hours, I responded to Walmart located at ********""""""" in reference to a theft in progress.

Upon my arrival, I contacted Walmart Loss Prevention employee Ni****** Wy***. Wy******* stated that a white male was wearing a black shirt and khaki shorts while walking around the store. He has been known to conceal items inside of his backpack. While watching the live surveillance footage, you can see the white male entering the grocery lanes with items inside his cart, along with an empty backpack inside. The white male then went into a grocery lane that was not visible to the camera. The male then proceeded to the front of the store with a cart with no items besides the backpack, which appeared to be full. The male then put on the backpack and began walking towards the exit of the store, passing all points of sale. Wynn then stopped the male and brought him into the loss prevention office. The male was then identfied as Er***** M********* via his social security number. When asking M*****" where all the items went, that was in the cart he did not respond and looked towards the backpack. Officer V***** then opened the backpack and pulled out the following items One FAUX SUCC valued TADY GEDITER FAUY SUCCC valued at $7Ona FAUY SUCC valued

Eric, When you finally get a Criminal Defense Attorney and have a sit down with him/her...Make sure you let them know that you posted on the internet about your crime.

 

[Taxing Matters]

All that is needed to detain you is reasonable suspicion, which is not a very high standard. That would have allowed for the investigation. Seeing the bag looking more weighed down when you left than it was when you entered the store is good enough for that. If during the investigation they had probable cause to believe your bag may contain evidence of a crime they may get a search warrant to search the bag or, if they determined there were exigent circumstances, they may search the bag without a warrant. Assuming the search was good then upon finding the merchandise the arrest was good. If the officers did have a warrant they did not have to inform you of that during the stop. If the situation met the standard for exigent circumstances the search was good. In short, the issue here is whether the officers had a search warrant or met one of the requirements for a search warrant. You need to discuss this with your attorney. This is not something that's so clear cut that any kind of definite answer can be provided. Experienced police officers know where the lines are for searches but there is always the possibility they made a mistake. Your lawyer needs to look over all the facts to see if there is enough doubt about the search to file a motion challenging the constitutionality of the search.

 

[quincy]

Here is a link to the Fourth Amendment, unreasonable search and seizure:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/unreasonable_search_and_seizure#:~:text=The Fourth Amendment reads: ”The Fourth Amendment reads: ”The right of,particularly describing the place to be searched,

I wonder where the drugs were found, on Eric’s person or in the backpack (assuming, of course, that Eric actually had the drugs and store items claimed in the police report). The location of the drugs can make a difference in the reasonableness of a backpack search.

 

[zddoodah]

a backpack that they say "appears" to be empty. . . . they state that my backpack "appears" to be full.

It's telling that you didn't bother denying the facts on which the loss prevention agents based your detention.

then precede to search my backpack and find items they claim I stole.

Since you were arrested, I'm going to assume that the items in question were items that were actually sole at the store in their packages.

So is this enough to detain, search, and arrest me?

Yes. Without any shred of doubt.

I don't think it is

Why?

I think my rights were violated

Which ones?

He has been known to conceal items inside of his backpack.

This is suggesting that you have a history of retail theft at this store. Do you deny this?

While watching the live surveillance footage, you can see the white male entering the grocery lanes with items inside his cart, along with an empty backpack inside. The white male then went into a grocery lane that was not visible to the camera. The male then proceeded to the front of the store with a cart with no items besides the backpack, which appeared to be full. The male then put on the backpack and began walking towards the exit of the store, passing all points of sale.

C'mon...you can't be serious. This could not be more obvious.

Your lawyer needs to look over all the facts to see if there is enough doubt about the search to file a motion challenging the constitutionality of the search.

I don't believe there is any constitutional issue since the detention and search were done by private loss prevention agents.

 

[quincy]

… I don't believe there is any constitutional issue since the detention and search were done by private loss prevention agents.

A police officer was the one who searched the backpack.