Yesterday I mentioned I have been searched only once by the police. It happened in college when I was back home over the Christmas break (we could actually use that word back then). Three other friends and I went to a Pizza Inn or Hut in Rock Hill late one evening. The place was closed early, and so after pounding on the door and examining the posted hours, we discussed where to go to assuage our hunger. We noticed a police car in the filling station across the street, so when we headed west on Manchester with the police car following, the driver, Dave, made sure to stay below the speed limit.
The police officer turned on his lights just before we entered Warson Woods, so by the time we actually pulled over at the Warson Woods shopping center, we had an officer from Warson Woods, and a Sargeant from Glendale in addition to the officer from Rock Hill. The Rock Hill officer, who wouldn’t tell us why we were pulled over, was none too happy when Dave gave him a paper driver’s license which was a temporary because his original had been destroyed in an apartment fire in Columbia. So they went off to the Rock Hill car to sort matters out, leaving us with the Warson Woods officer standing alongside the passenger side ignoring my friend Greg in the back seat who kept asking him why we were pulled over. Greg’s brother had apparently had a number of run ins with the Rock Hill police and his family didn’t have a high opinion of them. Greg wanted to get out and address the officer directly, and since it was a two door car, I got out to let Greg out. The Warson Woods officer was none too happy that either of us got out, so he told us to get back in the car. Greg told him he wouldn’t get back until we were informed why we had been pulled over. The officer than said he was giving us a lawful police order to get back in the car. I complied, Greg didn’t. So they handcuffed Greg, searched all of us and searched the car.
All they found was four college students looking for pizza.
I have to admit I snickered when I was ordered to take the keys out of my pocket “real slow” while the police officer watched very intently with hand on gun following the discovery during my patdown that I had a large metal object in my pocket. My keys were on a very large brass K.
The Glendale sargeant eventually persuaded the Rock Hill police officer, who about went ballistic when we told him we’d simply follow him to the Rock Hill police department and pay $500 cash to bail Greg out of jail, to let us go since we were “super squeeky clean” and he was glad he wasn’t the one who would have to write this one up. So after Greg “apologized” we were on our way.
So why bring this up? Did you notice something? We were searched without a warrant. Some would have you believe that’s a violation of the fourth amendment. Apparently not. Anything else? It was Greg, and Greg only who “didn’t obey a lawful police order”, but we were all searched along with the car. That’s right, I, who did obey the order, was searched, along with my two friends who weren’t even subject to the order. You mean they could search a person’s associates? Just in case there’s some question, we were all US citizens on US soil.
One last thing – they finally told us what we were pulled over for while driving 28 MPH down Manchester Road — loitering.
