Did the cop have the right to pull my little brother over for this..?

Question

Last night my younger brother who is 17 and his two friends ..im not sure of their ages but I'am sure they are both under18, who just happen to be Mexican; were stopped at a gas pump at a closed gas station. The cop pulled them over and had them all in hand cuffs and searched the truck..did he have a right in the first place to pull them over? and then search the truck? he did find a can a tobacco in my brothers pocket,which he got him there for underaged posession of tobacco use; then he also searched down both of his mexican friends..my brother said "the cop stuck his finger in their butt crack".could this be racial descrimination because he did not search the American boy the same way?.. i was not there i'am just going by what my younger brother told me. He thinks he know's it all and said the cop did not have "consent" to search to truck.. ??

thanks!

Answer 1

Yes it is legal. They were trespassing (By Law) I doubt weather the officer did as your brother said (Not searching the white boy, putting his finger in an inapropiate place) by getting caught trespassing the officer has probabal cause making the search legal.

Answer 2

I think your brother isn't telling the whole story because it seems very odd how the cops handled the situation.

Answer 3

Cops do not need consent to search a motor vehicle that is in operation during a traffic stop, he just needs probable cause.  Since they where in a gas station after it was closed, he had probable cause that they might be trying to rob it.

Answer 4

I all my years as an officer I NEVER put my finger into a person butt crack. If a search needed to go that far it was done at the jail by the jail staff.

Answer 5

if he suspected there was something wrong the police do not need consent

Answer 6

Yes,

the cops will use any reason to pull someone over whether it's valid or not.

Answer 7

They had more than enough probable cause.

They where in a gas station that was closed.

Thats tresspassing and would get the attention of any cop.

A cop investigating a possible crime can stop you anytime, anywhere.

Once stopped, the cop can perform a pat down of everyone for weapons. If they find anything illegal, like tobacco, they can then search further. The truck can also be searched. They where commiting a crime (tresspassing) and the officer most certainly had probable cause to believe they may have stolen items or tools to commit a crime in their truck.

Simply becasue the cop searched people different is not racial discrimination..nice try though.

Without even knowing the full story, it is clear the cop was 110% right.

And, everything above would have happened on Sept 10, 2001 as well as Sept 12, 2001.

Lets give the 911 thing a rest,OK JO?

Answer 8

Police can do whatever is legal to enforce the law, and if he was suspicious of something, which I am sure he was, then he can search. I would have been suspicios and search them too

Answer 9

Society might be a lot safer if police had the right to search any and all vehicles at any time. But if everything you say is accurate, then observing them stopped on private property, the gas station, gives probable cause to 'pull them over' even if not to search the vehicle.

Only if he observed something that implied a crime in progress would he be entitled to search the vehicle without warrant. If he had suspicions he should have called for a warrant and detained them until it arrived, or until its image was faxed to him.

Answer 10

Well your brother probably waived his rights not to be searched, and no it is not racial discrimination, and that would be suspicious activity so he could question them.

Answer 11

you never said why he stopped them if they where hanging around a closed gas station then yes he had every right to find out why they where there and what they where doing normal people don't hang around closed business's unless there up to no good as far as the search he probably did the same to the other boys they were just to embarrassed to admit ti

Answer 12

The cops only need reasonable suspicion that a crime has occurred or is about to occur to make a traffic stop. This means that they only need to be about 30% sure. That's not much. Probable cause is about 50%. Stopping at a closed gas station is suspicious enough to warrant a stop. Once the contraband (tobacco) is located, the car can be searched for additonal contraband and under SITA (Search Incident To Arrest). I don't know about the "butt crack" claim but once your under arrest, you are subject to a thorough search, including a strip search.

Answer 13

He's right. Consent or probable cause are required for a search.

However, in post 9/11 "land of the free" USA rules have changed a little bit.