Police Harassment: My 420 Story

Discussion in 'Real Life Stories' started by 51isnotprime, Apr 21, 2015.

  1. #1 51isnotprime, Apr 21, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 22, 2015
    Edit: Added tl;dr
     
    The background:
         I was not planning for a 420 of excitement. I live in a college town in the mountains, known very strongly in my state as being a “weed school”. The police in my town are the biggest dicks I have seen. I have had a few minor encounters with them and have watched them abuse their powers and take advantage of people. I have heard stories of local police harassment and cops abusing their power. It's strange how our view of police change over time, or mine at least. When you're young, the police are there to help you, you are told that they are always good to go to if in danger. As I grew older and learned more about the tricks and deceit and I began to realize that these are not the good Samaritans that I was told about. These are deceptive people, abusing their powers and taking advantage of others, often through exploitation. Sure, we hear often on the news of police abusing their power and being caught for it. Before yesterday, I honestly thought that most cops were good, there are just a few bad apples giving them a bad name. These few situations you read and see on the news are not representative of the entire group of police. My views on this have started to change lately, however. The things I have seen are too absurd. It may be because I am in a small college town in the mountains, filled with redneck police officers that do not seem to know more about the law than the average 12 year old. I'm not trying to proclaim hate onto the police of the nation. I am glad they protect and serve us often, but there is too much trickery, politics, and money involved with the legal system and the amount of power given to a person of the law and it is absurd. More needs to be done. A person in blue's word should not be able to be so highly regarded as the truth.
     
    The actual story:
         As I said before, I was not planning to smoke, though I can be pretty easily convinced of things and eventually ended up changing my mind based on my own thoughts. It was originally going to be just me smoking and two of my non-smoking friends were going to just come with me. I liked that plan, though they ended up bailing because they just ended up not wanting to go anymore. About the time they bailed, I was talking to my friend, S that smokes a bit more than I do. We decided to smoke together and he would invite his roommates for next year. S and I have been having talks of starting a band. He would sing, I would play guitar, and one of his roommates was going to play drums. I found this as a perfect way to bond with a potential band member.
     
         We get in my car and drive about 4 minutes to pick them up at the dorm across campus. Let's call them T and J. They have been high all day and are currently still extraordinarily high. It takes almost 10 minutes for them to just simply walk outside and get in. Finally once we're in and ready to go T asks me to stop at the dorm across campus, the dorm where S and I live, to talk to someone. I give in and we stop for a few minutes. He's finished and we begin our drive to my spot, about 7 minutes or so away. We turn onto this street that leads from the dorms to the main road. It's a short road that cops often pull people over on, especially for speeding since the limit is 25. I turn onto it and there is no one around. We are the only ones driving the road at 10 pm on 4/20. Someone points out the cop parked to the left, saying to slow down. Of course, I was going the speed limit so I was just like alright. We were on this road for about 10 second before turning off to go to our university's main eating hall. I'm trying to decide where to park for a bit and as I pull into the spot finally, blue lights flip on behind me. What the fuck. I have done honestly nothing and am just dumbfounded and scared as shit.
     
         I've only been pulled over one time before, at that was for speeding when I was just an innocent 17 year old. After that, I did a lot of research on the rights of law enforcement and whatnot just to learn more and make sure I was more prepared if it were to happen again. Being 19, I am far more mature and knowledgeable than I was. I'm definitely a bit nervous, seeing as how there are two people high as balls in the backseat. The cop comes fast. I noticed that when I was pulled over the first time, there was a decent time gap between stopping and the officer actually walking over, whereas this guy came in about 5 seconds. I roll down my window and I of course we go over the reasoning for being pulled over. I was quite clueless as to what I did and had not honest idea. It took me about 15 seconds to park and decide on a spot, is that illegal? He points out that I have a tag light out. I figured this was my license plate light but I was not confident so I asked what that was. He asks for my license. Being my usual clumsy self, I pull out my credit card first, force of habit I guess. I drop it after realizing how stupid and high I would seem pulling out my credit card for a cop. I struggle to pull my driver's license out of my wallet. I'm pretty annoyed that I am struggling so hard to simply retrieve my license but damn, that's just sober me. I havd him the license and I know that he's going to attempt to see how nervous and shaky I am. I watch my hand to make sure it doesn't shake as I hand him the driver's license. In all honesty, I have very shaky hands. Even right now as I hold my hand out, it is slightly shaky. As I handed him my license, I made sure as to not shake my hands and I did quite a nice job of it. It's almost as if my body had stopped my hands from shaking in all honesty. My hands looked quite steady. The first thing he said to me as he touched my license is
     
    “Why do you seem so nervous. Your hands are shaking.”
     
    “I wouldn't say they're shaky, they look pretty steady to me.”
     
    “Hold your hand out.”
     
    I hold my hand out to see the level of shakiness and it is virtually nonexistent. My hand is not shaking for once in my life, I feel confident.
     
    “Yeah you look really nervous. Why are you so nervous?”
     
    “Well I'm obviously a little nervous. It's not part of my daily routine to get pulled over. Anyone would be nervous if they were pulled over.” He didn't quite seem to grasp this concept for some reason, as I reiterated it multiple times.
     
    “You seem quite nervous though. Do you have something to hide? Why don't you step out of the car.”
     
    I step out of the car and I tower over this guy, even though I'm just 6 feet tall. I do not remember the conversation word for word, but this is basically the extent of how this went. I am sure one of the reasons he wanted me to step out was to better analyze me and see if I was high or anything and also to pull me away from my friends, attempting to lower my confidence and create a barrier between the support of my group. I stand there and he continues to talk about being nervous. Then out of the blue, I start to hear this.
     
    “Is there anything in the car I should know about?”
     
    “No.”
     
    “I am going to call in the drug dogs to smell out your car.”
     
    “What right do you have to do this? What have I been doing?”
     
    “You just seem really nervous.”
     
    “You have no right to do this, I have done nothing. What reasoning do you have to have dogs smell my car.”
     
    “I am allowed to have dogs smell your car.” (Some strange reason he was allowed to.)
     
         I questioned everything he said to me and it was beautiful. It's almost as if he was unprepared for someone to question his authority, something that he is probably not used to. I did not act like a dick, that's just not who I am and not how you get anywhere with people. If I were to summarize my tone, I would say it was slightly aggressive, confident, and somewhat agitated, as anyone would be from being unnecessarily pulled over and harassed. I was nervous when I was pulled over when I was 17 and I know I was. I know what being nervous looked like and I was far from it today as the cop was saying I was. In all honesty, he looked entirely nervous, far more than I, as I talked down to him about rights and how the law worked. I am not going to let this fucker take us down.
     
    We start to talk about the light now.
     
    I look at the back of my car. It is a bit beaten up. I was rear ended last year by this girl and just kept the money I got for it and never fixed my car since it wasn't really that bad.
     
    I look at the license plate. It seems bright. I can see it and it honestly looks lit up. I get close to the license and have to get almost face to face with the back of my car to see the small hole above my license that is absent of a light, obviously from being rear ended. I am quite surprised after seeing this and I do explain how it has been that way for about a year and had never had any problems. I do not think he even heard me say this, he never talked about the light to me. I had never gotten pulled over for that for over a year, yet now I drive 30 seconds on 420 and I get pulled over. What a strange coincidence, hmm. We then quickly get back to the real business, as the man does not seem too interested in the reason he pulled me over, and more interested in something he has no honest reason to believe other than societal connotations and stereotyping.
     
    “So if you have anything in the car now, you better tell me before I call to bring the dogs in.”
     
    “No, there is nothing in the car.”
     
    This interaction reoccurred about 5 times in almost the exact same way.
     
    If you ever have a cop try to get you to confess something, that is a good sign. Don't ever confess without a lawyer. That is honestly how they catch so many people. He knew he had nothing on me and attempted to see if he could find the easy way of catching someone.
     
    “Okay I am going to call for the dogs.”
     
    “Okay.”
     
         I walk back to the car. Damn, am I nervous. I honestly thought he was going to bring the dogs and so we are of course freaking out, coming up with plans of action. My weed is in the middle compartment between the driver and passenger seat so I am quite nervous at this point actually. Would a dog be able to smell this in such tight containers? I have two containers. One that is full of a small amount of ground weed, probably a little less than a gram and is not very secure. I also had around 4 grams in two bags in a glass jar that was not ground up. We go over our options on what to do and act quick. At first, I suggest putting both sources of weed in the trunk. There is nt way in hell a dog is going to smell weed, through the trunk, through my jar, through two bags. Though who could know? Who's to say that the officer wouldn't just give himself probable cause at the slightest thing the dog did? That's probably what would have happened I'm sure. My ground weed is something I'm more worried about. T snaps into sobriety during this tenure and advises me to eat it. Well, he's got a point and there aren't many options. I down a little less than a gram of ground up weed. The taste is awful and my mouth and throat are somewhat burning now. The weed is so dry and is so hard to swallow. I struggle to swallow it all and take several minutes to do so, wishing I just had a sip of water. I knew I would not be able to eat the weed in the jar and I didn't want to either. It was far too complicated to open at the moment and far too much to eat without simply giving away the fact that we had weed. I tell T and J to throw it in the trunk. This was a struggle. They could not figure out how to open the section between the two back seats and just throw it in there. They ended up throwing it on the ground because they could not figure it out.
     
    Oh great, the cop is coming. This is it. Here come the dogs. I can still feed the weed in my mouth. Oh god, does my breath smell like weed? I can still feel pieces of it in my mouth and throat, lingering as my throat desperately craves water to relieve this dry, burning sensation.
     
    “Here is your warning citation for your tag light.”
     
    Keeping my head down I respond quietly, making sure my dank breath was not able to be smelled from a distance. We won. The cop tried to abuse his powers and lost in his hasty stupor to attempt to catch any and all ne'er-do-wells through unconventional and potentially illegal measures. Could there be a challenge at the local police station? The person to find the most weed on 420 gets an added bonus to their check this year. You never know, that's the kind of world we live in.
     
    The joy that just spread through my veins as he drove away is better than that of any drug. We won. The feeling of extreme anxiety, panic, and the possibility of strong repercussions instantly went away and was replaced with feeling of strong joy, relief, and even a slight sense of conquering “the man”. We high-five as he begins to drive away, not knowing if he saw us or not.
     
    I didn't even want to smoke after that but hey, you got to celebrate, right?
     
    tl;dr
    My friends and I are going to smoke. We're driving for about 30 second before a cop pulls us over. He says I have a tag light out. I give him my license and he says I look nervous and my hands were shaky, which they weren't because I was watching them and I wasn't even showing any signs of being nervous. He asks me to get out of the car and bombards me with "what do you have in your car" "if you have something illegal you better tell me" I of course just say no. He then says He's going to get drug dogs. For no honest to god reason besides "my hands looked shaky" which he completely made up. I was confident as hell and bombarding him with questions like, what gives you the right to do this, what am I doing wrong, etc. In all honesty I think he was intimidated by me by the way his body language and tone sounded. I don't think he's used to having his authority questioned. So he says about five times to tell him if I have something in the car and to tell him now before he gets the dogs. I tell him to get the dogs. I go to the car. We freak out and whatnot, eat a little weed, etc. He comes back 5 minutes later with a warning citation for my tag light and drives away. We get blazed soon after.

     
  2. For someone who "knew" their rights you went about this kinda sloppy. First off the moment you see lights and are getting pulled over automatically start taking you insurance and license, that will cut down the interaction time with the cop and give him less of a chance to examine you and the inside of your car. Plus it's makes his job a lot easier which they appreciate.

    Secondly, you shouldn't have stepped out of the car especially when there wasn't any probable cause, when he threaten to bring the dogs without probable cause you could've asked him if you were under arrest or free to leave. He would have to let you go so that he himself wouldn't get in trouble. If he could smell it then you would've been fucked.

    Lastly you had two other friends with you, why didn't they try and help you eat that bud instead of being useless as fuck not trying to help get yall out of the situation. Honestly that's pretty shitty that you tried eating it while they sat back and dropped weed on your car floor. I'm sure if the cop found it those guys would've sold you out in a heart beat.

    Glad you got out of that shitty situation just try and be more ready and keep a clear head when dealing with cops, also watch the company you keep around you, just because yall get high together doesn't mean they wouldn't turn on you to save themselves.


    Wraaaap the night around me, blanket of black on my back, I feel safe in the darkness...
     
  3. #3 51isnotprime, Apr 21, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 21, 2015
    I realize that I may have came off as a bit arrogant in knowing my rights and whatnot. I guess I still just feel really good about how I handled it. I wasn't trying to compare my limited knowledge to that of someone who is professionally trained in any way. I was referring to more of how the public knows very little about the most basic things, while I would say a know a decent amount more than the basic, enough to get by. Good information though and I'll be sure to keep this in mind in the future. Yeah the two guys in the back were a pain. I had never smoked with them before and definitely won't smoke with T. He refused to do anything and tried to convince me to eat the weed from the jar without help. The other guy was cool though but I don't plan on seeing T anytime soon. Even after smoking I was paranoid as hell and wanted to just go home but he tried to get me to go to this random guy's house in the middle of nowhere.

    For someone who has never really questioned a cop's authority, I consider this to be quite a success. If I were sloppy enough to have been caught 10-15 times by now, I'm sure I would be far better. I am just not experienced enough with police, but feel as though I know a lot for somewhat with virtually no experience and that is normally an easy going pushover.

    The things you said that made my knowledge seem sloppy seem fairly one sided. How would it look if I were to refuse to get out of my car and and to leave? If I had pushed the limits to that extent, that could have led to the cop becoming increasingly frustrated and doing even more. This guy has no morals. If I had refused to get out of the car, then maybe he would claim to have smelled weed. I also was happy to get out of the car and be further away from the weed and high people anyways. To step outside of the car and show that I was sober and had nothing to hide was something I think is still the better idea.
     
  4. I feel ya OP, wasn't trying to sound like a dick in my last post I've just learned to always have your shit ready before the cop comes to your window, I've gotten out of a possible dui before by just having my shit ready and clearing my head telling myself ima get out of it before the cop even came to my window. And like I said young blade keep good company around, a lot of good people smoke weed but that doesn't mean everyone that smokes are good people


    Wraaaap the night around me, blanket of black on my back, I feel safe in the darkness...
     
  5. #5 RollinGanja, Apr 21, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 21, 2015
    Dp
     
  6. I would think that a dog could smell weed in a trunk in jars.  It's what they're trained to do.
     
    That sucks that you got a dick cop.  Last time (years ago) that I got pulled over with weed, I was heading out surfing and fishing with a friend and we were smoking and driving and I swerved a bit while pulling from a pipe.  Cop pulled us over, my car's electric windows did not work at the time so we had a freshly hot boxed car with no way to vent it.  The cop looked like Sgt Slaughter, all muscles and a buzz cut, and when he approached I had to open my door to talk to him.  I shit you not, smoke came out like Cheech & Chong.  I was sure I was toast (I know I was toasted) but he just let me off with a warning.  You never fucking know.
     
  7. There was absolutely no reason to get out of the car from what you posted. It's just like if you aren't doing anything wrong and a cop randomly walks up to you and ask to present your ID you can tell him to fuck off because you aren't legally obligated to do shit unless there's suspicion or probable cause. I don't think shakey hands would hold up as probable cause....besides driving around late on campus you could've easily bullshitted and say you were trying to get home or get your friends home yall have class the next morning and didn't have time for his shit etc, etc.

    Can't argue with you too much since you did get away but it's just all food for thought. Using your rights isn't gonna make a lot of cops happy since it makes their job harder so you can't expect the officer to get a little frustrated while you use your rights to get off.





    Wraaaap the night around me, blanket of black on my back, I feel safe in the darkness...
     
  8. So all of this driving around and you never actually left the campus? You are lazy and get what you deserve. If you had a nice high walk around school you would've been fine lol.
     
  9. A K9 has the right to the area around your car, its a trick question, not the area inside your car.
    "Am i being detained due to nervousness or am i free to go?
    Oh wait, i cant be detained due to nervousness, so am i being detained for anything else? No? I'd like to be on my way" Is probably how you should have put it.


    :smoking:
     
  10. I love to walk around high. I use my highs in a more spiritual way, while the people I was with are more into "let's see how high I can get before I pass out". 
     
    If I have my car, why not drive it since we're driving to a spot anyways? Smoking on campus is not safe anymore, there have been too many people caught from that. S and I had a nice 15 minute walk back to the dorms also since my parking spot is a decent ways away.
     
  11. You're definitely right. I knew they wouldn't be allowed in, but if they went through the trouble to actually bring the dogs, then they're going to find a way to get into your car somehow. I should've just asked if I could leave. That's definitely one thing I'll ask in future encounters :)
     
  12. you know what that is true.. If they open your door you cannot physically stop an officer. I think this is bullshit.. But its just how it is.
    Youve just got to prove there was no probable cause in the first place which wont be difficult if they record what is going on like they normally do, and they will have to drop charges!


    :smoking:
     
  13. #14 RedganjaDown, Apr 22, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 22, 2015
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxtEmx8-IGA
     
  14. #15 andy85258, Apr 22, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 22, 2015
    This,

    I always try to avoid cars unless the distance of where I'm going demands it. when going to or from pickups or if I have bud on me. They're all watching the roads and hardly think of the sidewalk. Also easier to find cop free/ cop minimal travel routes
     
  15. #16 51isnotprime, Apr 22, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 22, 2015
    If we walked the entire distance of everywhere we went it would have taken an extra 3-4 hours. It was still Monday and I still have a 9am. I can't spend my school nights walking around for hours on end when we began our expedition at 10 o'clock.
     
  16. #17 andy85258, Apr 22, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 22, 2015

    Do the same things for roads, travel through neighbor
    hoods as much as possible, escpecially the nice ones where nothing ever happens and maybe has one police at most going through it. Night is gonna
    be cop city of course so try to do it early as possible.

    A little forethought can go along way in keeping your Ass out of jail.
     
  17. Yeah that is a good idea. I need to learn the back roads better, I haven't been in this town for long. It's not like I get pulled over often though so I'm not too worried
     
  18. If they ask you to get out of the car, you have to by law.
     

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