Reasonable Articulable Suspicion & Illegal Police Stops
Protecting You From Illegal Police Stops!
The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects you against unreasonable searches and seizures, which includes being unlawfully or illegally pulled over or stopped by law enforcement. An officer cannot simply pull you over based on a hunch or intuition. When a police officer observes a traffic violation, he or she is justified in initiating a limited stop for the purpose of issuing a citation. State v. Brickman (2001), 11th Dist. No. 2000-P-oo58, 2001 Ohio App. LEXIS 2575. The legal standard applied to traffic stops is reasonable and articulable suspicion, which means that the officer has reason to believe that:
- a crime has been committed;
- a crime is being committed, or
- a crime is about to be committed, AND
- the person(s) being stopped is the person who did one of the above
Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 21, 88 S.Ct. 1868 (1968). It is your attorney’s job to demonstrate to a judge or jury that the officer lacked any credible evidence upon which to base reasonable and articulable suspicion. In an OVI arrest scenario this often means fighting the reason(s) for the stop in the first place. You are aided in this fight by having an attorney familiar with the officer’s training as set forth in the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration Student Manual, which is specific on what the officer is to look for and what conclusions he or she can draw from your actions. (See Detecting Drunk Drivers at Night, previous post)
Dayton DUI lawyer Charles M. Rowland II has been trained in police procedures and tactics by being certified in the same NHTSA standardized field sobriety training that the police themselves undergo. Charles M. Rowland has every NHTSA Student manual dating back to 1983, and every field sobriety validation study dating back to 1975. His experience as a city prosecutor and his certification in Forensic Sobriety Assessment puts him in an excellent position to defend you from illegal police stops. Further, no one is more committed to defending your Fourth Amendment Rights than Charles M. Rowland II. Call him today at 937-318-1DUI (318-1384) or 1-888-ROWLAND (888-769-5263).
The picture used in this posting is the exclusive property of Charles M. Rowland II and is protected by copyright. No use of this picture is permitted without the express written consent of attorney Charles M. Rowland II.
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