Can a police officer search you in this situation?
One day, after school, some of my friends and I were standing on a sidewalk talking, it was about 5-6 of us. Then an old man in a wheelchair came up behind us. We didn't hear him or see him b/c he had an electric wheelchair and he didn't say anything. He was probably waiting there for about 5-7 seconds. Then he yelled "hey", then we turned around, we saw him and we politely moved out his way.
...sounds like an innocent story right?
but here's where it gets twisted:
About 10 minutes later about 8-9 police officers, about 2 coming from each direction, came up to us and on officer said "hey guys, how u doing", we said "good". Then they told us the reason they came over here was because the man in the wheelchair called them. I can't really remember why exactly the guy in the wheelchair called the police on us but I remember the police officer saying that we were blocking the sidewalk and he couldn't get pass and he said the guy heard on of us say a curse word (not at the guy, but just used a curse word in a middle of our conversation) and even though we don't remember anybody saying a curse word we just said "ok".
Then one of the officers came up to me pulled me aside and said he had to search me, they didn't give me a reason why (I have no record or anything). When the officer searched me he found nothing but my wallet full of my id's, credit cards, some money, a pen, and some class notes. In other words he basically found nothing on me. Then they searched my friends and found nothing on them either. Then they said next time stay off the side walk so people can pass. We said "yea alright" then we left.
In this situation did I (or any of my friends) have a right to refuse a search?
@Looney Dufus
omg... and this is exactly why I wasn't gonna add that detail b/c i knew someone was actually gonna ask me that. Every question i ask i have a jackass who posts senseless crap but if u must know, i turned around about 15-20 seconds before he came and know one was behind us, plus there were other sidewalk paths he could have used that would've gotten him where he was going a lot faster but for some reason he wanted to use the path we were standing on. and i never said i knew, i said he was "PROBABLY" waiting there for about 5-7 seconds.
@STEVEN F
oh I'm sorry.
Were you there? If so, you tell me what happened then....
@STEVEN F
I never asked if this was real or not b/c i was actually there and i KNOW what happened.
I asked "Can a police officer search you in this situation?". I could give a damn if you believe the situation or not.
If you're not gonna answer the question, hop off ma shit.
Thanks to everybody else who ACTUALLY ANSWER my question.
I'll remember that if this happens again.
@justagorilla
yea he really was. he's some bitter old man just lookin for attention. before the incident I seen him a couple of times and i thought he was a cool dude.
now ever since that happened, every time i see him i just give him a mean mug. lol
April 22nd, 2011 - 02:48
First of all, you ALWAYS have a right to refuse a search. All you had to say was "I don’t consent to searches sir." Based on this situation they did not have the right to search you and you should have told them so. If they had smelled weed or something then they could have, but that doesn’t take away your right to refuse it. That just gives them the right to ignore you. NEVER EVER EVER consent to searches from the police! And ask "officer are you detaining me or am I free to go?" because until he says you’re being detained you’re considered there by your own free will and they can only detain you for so long.
April 22nd, 2011 - 02:48
yes you can refuse to be searched , but you have no way to stop them ,you could take recourse later
April 22nd, 2011 - 02:48
If you didn’t hear him or see him b/c he had an electric wheelchair, how do you know he was there or about 5-7 seconds.
Additional Details: So in 15 seconds or less a guy in an electric wheelchair appeared out of nowhere. Dam, I want one those!
April 22nd, 2011 - 02:48
the old man was a jackass who thought you knew he was there. I would just chalk this one up to an uneventful encounter with the law. glad you were clean.
April 22nd, 2011 - 02:48
they have a right to frisk you on criminal subspiction but they can not search you without cause. so they didnt have the right.
April 22nd, 2011 - 02:48
Bad trolling. IF the police responded at all to what you say was reported, it would be ONE or TWO officer’s not 8 or 9. This incident DID NOT HAPPEN.