Asked 1/20/2016 – Grand Prairie, TX

I was pulled over the other night. The officer followed as I pulled out of a QT gas station and after several blocks he pulled me over. The reason given was that I extended into the crosswalk at a red light. He asked for my license and after I handed it to him he went to his car and came back and started yelling at me to get out of the car. When I got out of the car I saw that he was leading a drug dog to enter my car. I questioned whether this was legal and his reply was “It’s completely legal” There was a pot pipe inside my console so I got a ticket for drug paraphernalia but instead of just giving me the ticket he arrested me. He claimed that I acted suspiciously when I handed him my license, which is not true, as I had forgotten the pipe was there and had no reason to be nervous. I feel that the officer acted wrongly from the start as he made up a reason to pull me over and then made up a reason for probable cause to search my car

Answer

1) No, the police cannot search your car without probable cause; and, 2) whether probable cause or reasonable suspicion existed in your case is debatable. Enter a plea of not guilty and set the citation you received for trial. You should probably retain an attorney to request the officer’s dash-cam and/or body-cam video. There should also be a subpoena issued IMMEDIATELY for the security video at the QT where the incident occurred; most organizations will discard such video after a few days if no request was made to preserve the materials.