Supreme Court rulings hold that you are required to get out of the car if a police officer tells you to do so.
It’s an all-too-common experience: you’re driving down the freeway when you see flashing lights in your rearview mirror. You pull over on the side of the road, and a law enforcement officer approaches your car and demands that you get out of the vehicle. Are you required to comply?
According to a criminal defense attorney in Orange County, CA, you should get out of the vehicle if a police officer tells you to do so. Under a pair of United States Supreme Court rulings, the police have a right to insist that both you and your passengers get out of the car during a traffic stop. The rationale behind these decisions is officer safety. In other words, if the officer has a reasonable basis to believe that you are armed and dangerous, they can order you to get out of the car so that they can pat you down for weapons.
Traffic stops are justified under an exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. While law enforcement generally needs a warrant to search or seize you or your home, there are exceptions. Traffic stops fall into a broad category of investigatory stops known as Terry stops.
During a Terry stop, the police can stop you (seizure) if they have a reasonable suspicion that you are involved in criminal activity. For traffic stops, this reasonable suspicion can arise in any number of ways. For example, if you are speeding, driving erratically (like a person under the influence might) or even if you have a taillight out, the police may have reasonable suspicion to stop you.
Once you are stopped, the police are permitted to frisk you for their own safety. Importantly, this type of pat down is only justified if they have a reasonable basis to believe that you are armed and presently dangerous. During a traffic stop, this pat down must happen outside of the vehicle, which is why the Supreme Court has ruled that ordering drivers and passengers to get out of the car for officer safety is permissible under the Fourth Amendment.
These pat down searches are limited in scope. They must be over the outside of your clothing, and only for weapons. For this reason, the police can’t go inside of your pockets to look for drugs. However, if the police feel something that is obviously contraband, then they may be able to seize it and charge you with a crime.
Of course, the police might pull you over for one reason, such as an expired license plate, and then claim that they were concerned that you were armed and dangerous to justify a pat down search. In these situations, a seasoned criminal defense attorney in Orange County, CA may be able to challenge the legality of the search and have the evidence against you suppressed, which means that it cannot be used in court.
If you have been charged with a California crime, the Chambers Law Firm is here for you. Contact us today at 714-760-4088 or dchambers@clfca.com to schedule an appointment with a criminal defense attorney in Orange County, CA.
