First Encounter With Cops

Just want to share my first experience with the police. tl;dr summary on bottom.

I had the cops called on me two nights ago. Some woman, with apparent psychological disorder due to the hysterical way she appeared to be acting, was looking out through the window of the house I was parked in front, phone in hand, had called them. Apparently, to her, it's suspicious for three white males to park a late-model Mercedes-Benz in a rich, white, neighborhood and proceed to walk away from it while smoking what would appear to be a cigarette.

My friend was unlucky to get caught with the joint in his hand, and since he has no experience with police, and doesn't listen to my advice, he threw out the joint in an obvious manner and then threw out his pack of cigarettes that had a joint in it.

We were all searched, including my friend who stayed in the car. I had a small 1 inch SharpStone grinder in my jacket pocket, which they took out, though a small cylinder object should not constitute as a danger or threat, or something that would warrant an officer to pull out. At the same time I had a much larger metal box in my pocket which they did not bother to look at.

I was then cuffed and made to sit on the ground while they opened my car and searched through it. They had us wait on the ground outside the entire time while they ran our names through the system inside their van. Mind you, it was below freezing that night.

I was given a citation for unlawful possession of Marijuana, and must waste my time and miss two classes that I have paid for to go to court only to have the citation dismissed automatically.

It was completely illegal for the officer to take out the grinder, or open it and smell it. In fact, it was dark and he did not shine his flashlight on it to look at it; he simply took a whiff. More than likely, this officer has had no official training to distinguish between the smell of burnt marijuana, and fresh marijuana.

According to FindLaw:

The officer did not use plain touch, he opened my jacket pockets and put his hands inside, and took out the contents. The grinder was come upon illegally, since it did not constitute as a weapon. Even if he had opened it, and he legally was entitled to search until he saw that nothing dangerous was in it, he could not legally determine what the contents were.

This in turn would not have warranted them to search my car without asking for permission. Since possession is decriminalized, I was not under arrest, which would allow them to search. In fact, even if I was placed under arrest, according to People v. Stehman, it would still have been illegal to search the vehicle, since I was not inside it at the time that the police arrived.

tl;dr:

So at the end of the encounter, I was unjustly handcuffed based on the contents of a small nonthreatening object that can not be constituted as a weapon, with contents that were assumed illegal due to smell, of which the officer had no training to distinguish from the odor of the burnt marijuana in the vicinity, and were not corroborated, as well as found illegally with the officer digging through pockets and emptying the contents, and then identifying weather they posed a threat, rather than using the legal method of search allowed to them, which is the Terry search, that requires the officer to feel for dangerous or threatening objects, determined as such from touch rather than visual or olfactory senses.

My 4th amendment rights were violated a second time, when the officers opened my immobilized and idle vehicle and conducted a search, since I was not under arrest, and was outside the vehicle at the time that the officers arrived.

I was given a summons to appear in court, which will be automatically dismissed upon my arrival, but is a complete waste of my time, as I will be missing two University classes with an individual worth of 400 dollars, and significant importance, as they are both core classes belonging to my major.

I suffered through 20 minutes in windy, below-freezing weather, handcuffed with my back leaning on the cuffs, which were placed tightly, causing minor and temporary damage to my wrists.

Some contents of each individual's pockets were thrown out, destroyed, "misplaced" or stolen by the officers involved. Such contents included, but were not limited to, cigarettes, money, keys, a Zippo lighter, receipts, miscellaneous items such as gum and chap stick, and accessories for my headphones.

While being handed the citation, the officers radioed to the precinct asking what the cutoff time was for submitting citations for the day. This was an hour before midnight, which leads me to believe that the officers were pressed to meet a quota. Also, I have been informed by a source that the officer could have received upwards of 300 dollars for issuing this citation to me.

I just wanted to share my experience, and hopefully I will be allowed to address the court with the issues and concerns I have with the actions of both officers involved. Their actions were intolerable, and are only exasperated by the equally unjust laws against Cannabis.

I hope you all realize, that the only way is to legalize, since so many people have been in worse situations than me, and there are so many other officers whom also violate the laws and rights of citizens to uphold an unjust law, and most importantly, to make a few extra bucks.

 

Edited and added tl;dr summary

 

Just an update: Case dismissed at the check-in window. Thinking of filing suit for wasted class time, $1000.

Edit: I wish I just sent in the ticket as not guilty, I probably wouldn't have had to waste my time.