Racist?

[Bubba]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/c ... 713909002/

You decide…

[deadheadskier]

I got pulled over by a Georgia statey in my early 20s and they searched my car for no reason and wrote the ticket for 20 over vs the 10 I was doing. I was on my way home from Florida to VT. Wasn't going to go back and fight the overage in court.

Seems completely out of line to search a college sports teams bus no matter what the ethnicity

[XtremeJibber2001]

Sure sounds like it, Bubba. Having spent time around Savannah it would not surprise me in the least.

[easyrider16]

Unless there is some fact not being reported here, this was very clearly an illegal search under the U.S. Constitution. A stop of a vehicle for violating a traffic law does not provide probable cause to search the vehicle without some reason to believe there is contraband.

Whether it was racist? No idea. It's certainly an open question given the clearly illegal search of a vehicle with predominantly black passengers. I imagine a lawsuit will be forthcoming.

[deadheadskier]

Generally speaking, police have FAR too much power to search cars whenever they want. All they really have to say is ,"The driver's eyes were bloodshot" and away they can go with a search. There should have to be a warrant issued just like with your home.

[daytripper]

Agree with deadhead, cops can search any car anytime they want, easy lives in a make believe world apparently because cops can and will search any car they pull over whenever they want. When I was in my teens and twenties my car was searched dozens of times. Me and my friends expected the car to be searched if we were pulled over. They can and do come up with pretty much any sh*t reason to justify the search.

[XtremeJibber2001]

Agree with deadhead, cops can search any car anytime they want, easy lives in a make believe world apparently because cops can and will search any car they pull over whenever they want. When I was in my teens and twenties my car was searched dozens of times. Me and my friends expected the car to be searched if we were pulled over. They can and do come up with pretty much any sh*t reason to justify the search.

Same thing happened to me. One time they did it and I was following my parents down to the jersey shore (I was 17 at the time). When the officer noticed my father coming to chat with him, his tone changed really quick.

Maybe it's not racism as much as it's just prejudice.

[throbster]

Liberals consider everyone and everything as racist, so who gives a flying f***?

[easyrider16]

Agree with deadhead, cops can search any car anytime they want, easy lives in a make believe world apparently because cops can and will search any car they pull over whenever they want. When I was in my teens and twenties my car was searched dozens of times. Me and my friends expected the car to be searched if we were pulled over. They can and do come up with pretty much any sh*t reason to justify the search.

I think perhaps you did not understand my post, which was a legal analysis based on a correct statement of the law. Police don't always follow the law, which is why evidence found in searches like this sometimes gets suppressed. It actually happens quite a bit more than you probably realize. For an example, remember the Kraft case with the video of him getting a handy? The reason Kraft walked is that the video got suppressed because police obtained it through an unlawful warrant.

As a practical matter, it is true that police can stop and search anyone any time. That doesn't mean every search is legal. Sometimes police make up a pretext to search the vehicle, but what was the pretext they came up with in this case? Based on the reports, I don't see one. Again, legally, a traffic violation does not give police the legal right to search the vehicle for contraband. There needs to be an additional fact to support such a search, and the reporting on this case does not give us one.

[daytripper]

In reality, the law often doesn't matter.

[easyrider16]

And sometimes it does. If these kids' parents decide to sue, and this is held to be an unlawful search, these officers may face some serious repercussions and the kids might get a serious contribution to their college funds.

[deadheadskier]

Nope, you are correct and there was no reason to search. What I'm saying is that the law needs to go further than what it does, which as you state only amounts to evidence being thrown out for unlawful searches

I think unlawful searches should result in criminal prosecution of police officers for violating constitutional rights. Make them think twice about doing it as often times it's their own egos that drive the behavior. "Look at me boys, I busted all those college kids for marijuana!!"

Every cop involved in this situation should be out of a job.

[easyrider16]

This is where my right-wing side comes out. Most officers are good, hard working people who are trying to do the right thing. Policing is a skill like any other, and officers over time develop an almost sixth sense for suspicious behavior. They sometimes pull people over on a hunch and find a mountain of contraband. Sometimes the perp walks because police acted on a hunch instead of specific facts, but at least the contraband is off the streets.

I don't think we want to subject officers to criminal prosecution for getting something wrong. Then you'd have a bunch of police who refuse to do much policing for fear of prosecution. Currently, the law allows for private lawsuits against officers for egregious or illegal conduct. The students on that bus have a cause of action, and right now it looks like a pretty good case.

I think the solution to the police problem in the U.S. is not to take away resources from police but to put more resources into training and equipping them. Give them the education and means to do it the right way, and most will do it the right way. We should also try to weed out the bad apples, but that's often easier said than done.

[daytripper]

These kids in the bus have a chance because this case has gotten national attention, but for some kid that got caught with a small bag of drugs that goes in front of the judge and says it was an illegal search, the cop then says his sh*t reason for it being legal and the judge sides with the cop. That is what normally happens.

[easyrider16]

These kids in the bus have a chance because this case has gotten national attention, but for some kid that got caught with a small bag of drugs that goes in front of the judge and says it was an illegal search, the cop then says his sh*t reason for it being legal and the judge sides with the cop. That is what normally happens.

Agreed, this does happen. But I've also seen many times where judges suppress evidence because the search was illegal.