Posted by VioLenT BoB (Dr.J0nes) at njtnt-1-154.dialup.enter.net on September 18, 2003 at 03:20:48:
In Reply to: What would you do? posted by Thom_Fowler on September 18, 2003 at 02:37:37:
Plain and simple.
Regardless of what you do, who you write for, or what the police officer was a fan of...you were wrong.
I was pulled over numerous times throughout college for driving a beater with Clerks, Dogma, J&SB, POW-MIA, X88.9FM, HOOTERS, and various other stickers through some of the most prestigious neighborhoods at the Jersey shore.
(You laugh but Deal, NJ shits on Beverly Hills; trust me.)
You are lucky you didn't get busted for expired tags, no insurance, etc. In fact, drivers like you are one of my biggest problems in my home state.
You cost everyone.
So you don't drink and you don't smoke pot, but if a drunk driver or a stoner hit my ass and caused irreparable damage to one of my appendages at least his insurance would cover it.
Police manufacture probable cause all the time. I've had "I smell pot." used on me way before I ever smoked marijuana. I've even been accused of 'Looping around" when I drove my car from Point A to point B and back to Point A. A round trip IS looping, apparently, in Deal.
The crux of your argument is almost exactly that of opposition to the PATRIOT ACT: Those who are not guilty have nothing to fear.
They pulled you over for the wrong crime, and since they're stops are recorded by a static camera, had you had a pound of marijuana on you their search would have been ruled illegal. They didn't find anything. You're in the clear.
Were your rights violated? Sure. Did you deserve it? Yeah. Just for reasons different than those that appealed to the police. BE glad that you received a slap on the wrists and move on.
Had you broken no law it might have been a different story, but as it is now the story is as old as the new testament: Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
I suggest you put down the rock, Thom.