Automobile Searches:
One of the most common scenarios where a potential 4th Amendment violation occurs is when an automobile is stopped by an officer and searched. For example, a person is driving their vehicle and an officer pulls them over. Then, at some point during the traffic stop the officer decides to remove them from the vehicle and searches the vehicle. During that search, the officer finds something illegal and arrests the driver.
In a situation like this, the officer did not necessarily need a warrant to pull the car over or conduct the search. However, both the stop and the search the vehicle must be legally justified. If either the initial stop of the vehicle or the later search are not justified, evidence found during the search may be excluded.
What type of justification is needed to allow an officer to pull someone over and search their car? Let’s discuss each in turn.
The Stop:
First, to stop the vehicle the officer must have either probable cause that a traffic violation has occurred or a reasonable articulable suspicion that an occupant of the vehicle was involved in a crime.1
Defining “probable cause” and “reasonable suspicion” is something that even the Courts struggle with. Florida’s Supreme Court has stated that probable cause is “a reasonable ground of suspicion supported by circumstances strong enough in themselves to warrant a cautious person in belief that the named suspect is guilty of the charged offense.”2 Florida’s Supreme Court has stated that a “reasonable suspicion” requires an officer to have “a well-founded articulable suspicion,” which is more than “mere suspicion,” that a person “has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime.”3 Whether probable cause or reasonable suspicion exists in any case is a very fact-specific decision and will depend greatly on what happened in your specific case.
The Search:
Even if an officer does have a justification to stop a vehicle, that does not give them the right to search through the vehicle. For an officer to justifiably search a vehicle, they must have probable cause to believe contraband or evidence of a crime is contained within the vehicle.4 An officer “may search the vehicle if a recent occupant is arrested only if the person arrested is still within reaching distance of the interior of the vehicle or it is reasonable to believe the vehicle contains evidence of the offense of arrest.”5
Depending on the facts of your specific case, there may be additional analysis that needs to be done and other rules that may apply. If you believe that your 4th Amendment rights have been violated by law enforcement during a traffic stop, contact Maroni Law as soon as possible so that we can begin preparing your defense and fighting for you.