Arizona Law: Police conduct and Evidence obtained

[PackaPunch]

Phoenix Arizona
I pulled over for excessive speeding on my motorcycle by MCSO sheriff deputies, they had no probable cause to search me, again I was riding my sportbike in the canyons, middle of nowhere, 10pm at night, not a soul on the road but me. Cop approaches me and immediately asks if I have anything in my pink backpack they should know about, confused by this, I reply "Am I Being Arrested??", cop ignores my question and continues to pressure me to search my bag. 3x I asked if I was being arrested, all of them ignored until I tell him NO, and NO I do not consent to any searches. "AM I BEING ARRESTED" he ignores me and when another sheriff pulls up he goes and grabs kujo from that newly arrived MCSO vehicle. Kujo steps over my bage and continues to sniff my bike, then wants to go play fetch, ADD kicked in, so the cop starts throwing pointing signals at my bag and mumbles a command 5-6 times before kujo gives in and paws at my bag.

(Cops actions *"Oh boy oh boy oh boy I get to put on my rubber gloves and act like there could be a bomb in this backpack"*)

He searches through it on the ground outta view from any dash cam. Finds a nickel sized bag of MaryJ and is so impressed with himself, he looks like he just finally hit the Jackpot on an old 1 line slot machine. He then preceded to search my wallet....now comes the best part, he sees that I have cash in it, so he TAKES my whole wallet, SS card, debit cards, credit cards, pictures all of it. And never gives me an evidence recite form. Tows my bike to impound, hands me my backpack, gives me a speeding ticket, then has another deputy drive me in the front seat of their patrol SUV in pink handcuff placed in front of me, back out of the canyons and dumps my butt off at the first gas station around 12 midnight.

I fight the ticket for speeding on my own and WIN my case. But no word on if they are trying to charge me for possession of Marijuana.

Question is: What CAN I do to get my wallet and $2,987 in cash back from the "Ohh so Just and Corrupt" Maricopa County Sherrifs Office of Arizona???????????

PS. Again the traffic ticket, which would of been the basis for what lead up to them searching me was dismissed/thrown out by the judge.

Thanks for any help or advice offered.


NEW INFO UPDATE....Q/A

1. I was able to pick my bike up from impound yard the very next day. For a $310 fee. So that's why I didn't make a fuss about getting bike back.

2. They towed it, I'm sure, to try and teach me a lesson. Had recieved a ticket out there for the same thing, excessive speed (67 in a 45).

3. I live in AZ riding in the daytime heat for a relaxing ride is a pretty stupid and ignorant thing to do when it's 115° outside. So night riding for almost all riders out here becomes a normal part of going out.

4. Why did I have cash on me, because I was transferring money to my mom to save her home from slipping into foreclosure. I pulled the money from safe and was going to get a money transfer but WU closed by the time I got off work. So I took a detour through the canyons on my way home.
.....And because also because I CAN. IT'S NOT ILLEGAL TO CARRY CASH LAST TIME I CHECKED. =)

5. Why did I have weed in my backpack that was the size of nickel, for severe muscle spasms and RLS. They won't give you a PHMM card for those because it's not frequent and constant pain. So I have a small emergency dose I keep on hand.

6. License, registration, insurance and motorcycle endorsement ARE ALL 100% CURRENT AND VALID. I have no warrants, no felony record, just a few traffic tickets.

I'm a 26yr old white female, who wouldn't bother hiding facts or making blanks in a post asking for free advice from an online forum site......because you don't know me and I don't know you and chances are we'll never meet in person. So why would I worry about withholding embarrassing facts or criminating details. I want honest truth and advice and in order to get that one must produce honest facts and statements.

Any other questions or curiosities or if I need to elaborate more on an area your puzzled about. Feel free to ask or message me directly.

Thanks again for your time.

PS. I can't fill in the MCSO blanks, but you can try asking him yourself, Shaun Richard Eversole =) court records and reports are open to the public in AZ. LoL


-PuNcH

 

[CdwJava]

I suspect that if you were going to be charged with the marijuana, you would have been. Since the underlying offense has been resolved, I'd venture to guess that you will not be charged since out here resolving a cite that led to the grander crime within the same contact and incident tends to lead to a double jeopardy issue, I suspect that you have little fear of being charged with the MJ at this point.

The fact that you might have prevailed on a traffic ticket does NOT - by itself - demonstrate that there was insufficient cause for the detention or the subsequent search. Keep in mind that you do NOT have to be "under arrest" to be detained or to have a K-9 do a sniff around your stuff. The fact that the dog apparently alerted and they did find marijuana (which sorta confirms the alert) means that the seizure may be valid. Only if the detention is ruled unlawful (due to duration, reasonable suspicion, etc.), or the search is suppressed for some reason might the matter of getting your stuff back be made all the easier.

As for getting your wallet and cash back, you may first have to find out why they are being held. Was it for safekeeping? Was it for evidence of possible dope dealing? Are they seeking forfeiture? Your first step may be to contact the agency and ask how you might get your property back.

And, WHY was your bike impounded? I note that you did not ask about how to get it back at all. Have you gotten the bike back?

 

[adjusterjack]

Question is: What CAN I do to get my wallet and $2,987 in cash back

Why the hell were you riding around at midnight in the middle of nowhere with almost $3000 in cash on you?

Never mind. No answer could possibly justify that.

Hire a lawyer if you ever expect to see it again.

 

[dave33]

Why the hell were you riding around at midnight in the middle of nowhere with almost $3000 in cash on you?

Never mind. No answer could possibly justify that.

Hire a lawyer if you ever expect to see it again.

How about this?...... Because he felt like it.

 

[dave33]

Phoenix Arizona
I pulled over for excessive speeding on my motorcycle by MCSO sheriff deputies, they had no probable cause to search me, again I was riding my sportbike in the canyons, middle of nowhere, 10pm at night, not a soul on the road but me. Cop approaches me and immediately asks if I have anything in my pink backpack they should know about, confused by this, I reply "Am I Being Arrested??", cop ignores my question and continues to pressure me to search my bag. 3x I asked if I was being arrested, all of them ignored until I tell him NO, and NO I do not consent to any searches. "AM I BEING ARRESTED" he ignores me and when another sheriff pulls up he goes and grabs kujo from that newly arrived MCSO vehicle. Kujo steps over my bage and continues to sniff my bike, then wants to go play fetch, ADD kicked in, so the cop starts throwing pointing signals at my bag and mumbles a command 5-6 times before kujo gives in and paws at my bag.

(Cops actions *"Oh boy oh boy oh boy I get to put on my rubber gloves and act like there could be a bomb in this backpack"*)

He searches through it on the ground outta view from any dash cam. Finds a nickel sized bag of MaryJ and is so impressed with himself, he looks like he just finally hit the Jackpot on an old 1 line slot machine. He then preceded to search my wallet....now comes the best part, he sees that I have cash in it, so he TAKES my whole wallet, SS card, debit cards, credit cards, pictures all of it. And never gives me an evidence recite form. Tows my bike to impound, hands me my backpack, gives me a speeding ticket, then has another deputy drive me in the front seat of their patrol SUV in pink handcuff placed in front of me, back out of the canyons and dumps my butt off at the first gas station around 12 midnight.

I fight the ticket for speeding on my own and WIN my case. But no word on if they are trying to charge me for possession of Marijuana.

Question is: What CAN I do to get my wallet and $2,987 in cash back from the "Ohh so Just and Corrupt" Maricopa County Sherrifs Office of Arizona???????????

PS. Again the traffic ticket, which would of been the basis for what lead up to them searching me was dismissed/thrown out by the judge.

Thanks for any help or advice offered.

-PuNcH

Why did the bike get towed? Did you have a valid drivers license?

 

[adjusterjack]

How about this?...... Because he felt like it.

Ya got me there.

 

[quincy]

How about this?...... Because he felt like it.

Not to say that Maricopa County in Arizona is anything like Wayne County in Michigan but ...

This year in Detroit we had some police officers charged with illegal stops and arrests and with stealing money and property from the victims, along with charges for extortion and drug trafficking. These officers were part of the (no-longer-in-existence) narcotics division of the Detroit Police Department.

While the majority of police officers are not going to commit crimes, it is an unfortunate fact that some do.

I would question what led the police out to the canyons late at night, and I would check to make sure there was a good record made of the amount of money that was confiscated.

I think a consultation with an attorney might be smart. Something does not seem right with this stop, the search or with what followed.

 

[CdwJava]

Well, working in a rural county with deputies that patrol rural areas, I can probably articulate a whole lot of reasons why there are more than one deputy patrolling the canyons out in the middle of nowhere, and why they might be interested in conducting a search of someone they stop out there. Let's say it was almost certainly not random chance that there were deputies out there on patrol and that they had a drug dog with them.

Given solely what the OP wrote, nothing leaps out at me as being overly problematic about the stop. Of course, I am wondering what he may have left out. I am also wondering why some of the other things happened. If he was licensed and the vehicle was registered, why was it impounded? Why was his wallet and the money seized? This makes me wonder whether the OP told us everything. On the other hand, the deputies may have been acting in a slipshod manner at best, and criminal at worst, but not citing for an offense that justified the seizure of the bike and the property.

If he left stuff out, he would not be the first poster here who had managed to leave out significant portions of the tale that explained a lot of these little mysteries.

 

[quincy]

Well, working in a rural county with deputies that patrol rural areas, I can probably articulate a whole lot of reasons why there are more than one deputy patrolling the canyons out in the middle of nowhere, and why they might be interested in conducting a search of someone they stop out there. Let's say it was almost certainly not random chance that there were deputies out there on patrol and that they had a drug dog with them.

Oh. I don't doubt that the sheriffs could articulate a reason they were out in the canyons with a drug dog.

Given solely what the OP wrote, nothing leaps out at me as being overly problematic about the stop. Of course, I am wondering what he may have left out. I am also wondering why some of the other things happened. If he was licensed and the vehicle was registered, why was it impounded? Why was his wallet and the money seized? This makes me wonder whether the OP told us everything. On the other hand, the deputies may have been acting in a slipshod manner at best, and criminal at worst, but not citing for an offense that justified the seizure of the bike and the property.

I agree that there are questions left unanswered.

If he left stuff out, he would not be the first poster here who had managed to leave out significant portions of the tale that explained a lot of these little mysteries.

I also agree with that statement.

Based strictly on what has been posted, however, something seems amiss with the sheriffs' actions.

 

[CdwJava]

Oh. I don't doubt that the sheriffs could articulate a reason they were out in the canyons with a drug dog.

I don't doubt that there is a LEGITIMATE need for them to be out there. Our S.O. is in the hills almost nightly dealing with folks from poachers to dopers and illegal grows, and I imagine that it is the same in AZ. 'Tis the season, ya know.

I agree that there are questions left unanswered.

By the OP as well.

Based strictly on what has been posted, however, something seems amiss with the sheriffs' actions.

Maybe ... but, I wonder what the OP conveniently left out. Either these were pretty dumb deputies wanting to get caught with their hand in a cookie jar by conducting vehicle impounds and property seizures on speeding tickets, or, the OP left a good deal of pertinent info out. I also find it noteworthy that he's not screaming about recovering his impounded bike and only worried about the money. Kinda tells me that the bike was unregistered, at the very least. If so, what else is missing from the tale?

 

[quincy]

I don't doubt that there is a LEGITIMATE need for them to be out there. Our S.O. is in the hills almost nightly dealing with folks from poachers to dopers and illegal grows, and I imagine that it is the same in AZ. 'Tis the season, ya know.


By the OP as well.


Maybe ... but, I wonder what the OP conveniently left out. Either these were pretty dumb deputies wanting to get caught with their hand in a cookie jar by conducting vehicle impounds and property seizures on speeding tickets, or, the OP left a good deal of pertinent info out. I also find it noteworthy that he's not screaming about recovering his impounded bike and only worried about the money. Kinda tells me that the bike was unregistered, at the very least. If so, what else is missing from the tale?

Perhaps PackaPunch will return to fill in some of the blanks (not to say that there still won't be pertinent blanks left to be filled in by the sheriffs).

 

[dave33]

Oh. I don't doubt that the sheriffs could articulate a reason they were out in the canyons with a drug dog.

As i'm sure you know the law enforcement can articulate anything. After all it's just a story written on a piece of paper.

 

[CdwJava]

As i'm sure you know the law enforcement can articulate anything. After all it's just a story written on a piece of paper.

And the OP's is just a story on the internet.

 

[TigerD]

The first thing I thought of when the OP said his cash was taken and bike seized was civil asset forfeiture.

But, it will cost him far more than the assets seized to fight for them back. He could try asking the Institute for Justice for help.

TD

 

[dave33]

And the OP's is just a story on the internet.

Yea, but Carl, the police report takes property and puts people in jail.