Can a cop legally stop/cite you when driving on private property?

Question

The property happens to be a parking lot. Assume the cop did not observe me driving on city streets, and further assume no complaints by other private citizens were involved. Also assume I was behaving normally.

I looked like the cop thought I had turned in to the lot to avoid a checkpoint, though that was not the case, I wanted something from a store in a strip mall, but the store had closed 20 minutes prior. Seeing that the store was closed I didn't bother to stop; I headed for an exit other than the one I came in, now on my way to another similar store that was not closed. (I know it sounds like BS -- that's exactly what the cop said too.)

Bottom line, does he have the legal authority to stop me and shake me down?

Answer 1

Depends,   Some states prohibit a motorist from cutting across private property, including parking lots.  If the cop saw you apparently doing that, he could stop you to investigate and see if you had some other explanation.  As to the shake down, I have no idea what that phrase means to you and so I can't address it.

Answer 2

Trooper is correct- If the officer has a reasonable suspicion that a car is attempting to avoid a checkpoint they can stop it.

mikeysco see below for some of the relevent case law-

http://www.iihs.org/laws/checkpoints.htm...

"Upheld under federal Constitution. Driving into private driveway to avoid a checkpoint justified a stop. Smith v. State, 515 So. 2d 149 (Ala. Cr. App. 1987)."

http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:w79...

"Dennis Deon Smith appeals a district court order denying hismotion to suppress evidence obtained by police following an investi-gatory stop of his vehicle. Because the officers possessed reasonable suspicion to stop Smith’s vehicle, we affirm.

.....The court concluded that based on the totality of the cir-cumstances, the officers reasonably suspected that Smith was attempt-ing to avoid the police checkpoint to conceal his involvement incriminal activity. The district court therefore denied Smith’s motionto suppress."

- David

Answer 3

I'm unaware of any Supreme Court decision that allows for "avoiding" a checkpoint to form the basis for reasonable suspicion but that's neither here nor there.

The bottom line here is that despite the answers you have, it's not possible to give you an accurate answer for your situation because you left out information you don't have: the information the cop had when he stopped you.

I'm not sure how the cop can say it looked like you avoided the checkpoint and yet not have seen you drive on city streets.  I suppose that could be the case, but it's difficult to imagine how that would happen.  

The laws in your state might well factor into this and you didn't say what state you're in.

I agree with those who have mentioned that the parking lot you're describing is almost certainly open to the public, but that might not be what makes the difference here (and again, this may well depend on your state's laws).  It's also possible that at some point while driving through this parking lot, you *did* drive on city property and you just don't know it (we have a parking lot like this in my city; a city street runs right through the middle of it and there's no way to tell).

Bottom line, not possible to give you a definitive answer without knowing more about the situation, even assuming that Supreme Court case does exist.

Answer 4

bottom line? yes.

Answer 5

Yep. Although the parking lot is in fact "private property" it is open for public access, like a mall or WalMart............

Answer 6

The US Supreme Court has ruled that avoiding a checkpoint creates a reasonable suspicion, and a traffic stop is lawful.

It does not matter is the suspicion is correct, it only needs to be reasonable.

Driving on public property is not a defense, especially if the property is open to the public, such as a strip mall.

Answer 7

Well lets see here: a)It looks suspicious if it looks like you are avoiding a traffic checkpoint. b)You are in a strip mall looking for a store "closed twenty minutes before" but you just happened to leave for another store that was at another exit that would allow you totally miss the entire checkpoint.

Looking at the totality of circumstance I can honestly see how a police officer might think you were either avoiding the check point or looking to do something else.  He did have probable cause to stop and see what you were doing.

And like the earlier post said: If the Supreme Court says its okay to stop, then its legal.

Answer 8

Yes,

and if he doesn't he'll make up a BS excuse to stop you.