Spent the night in the pittsburgh,pa county(alleghany) jail

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

Just like the title says spent the night in the county jail the other day and didnt get out until I finally got to see the judge via video court at 3am.... got caught with paraphernalia and 2 traffic charges but I ended up getting released on a non-monetary bail. city cops thought I was around trying to buy drugs and said I looked suspicious... Is that a reason they can use to pull you over without any other reason? Just seems kinda iffy to me like they was just picking me out and ****** with me...they also searched my car including glove box and trunk without permission or warrant which I thought was illegal..anybody got any experience with these type of matters? this is my first time ever being arrested so I am not sure how some of this stuff works and I might think these things are laws/truth but they are just urban legends... I was also never read my miranda rights which I thought was law and had to be said to me..

after they cuffed me and rode me to local police station they tried for quite awhile to get me to tell on ANYBODY for drugs and when I wouldnt I got rode down to the county jail downtown and they towed my car instead of letting me have a friend/family member pick it up even though it was sitting in a public parking lot. if they are right and I am wrong let me know other wise give me some advise on what I should do about this please. I wasn't even in a known drug area/bad area of the city so I'm not sure why I was picked out and I wasnt even high/smoking or anything when i was pulled over.

sorry so long but its a messed up situation for me.

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[Knowmadic 10+ year member]

I'm currently enrolled in a Criminal Justice class so can help you a bit with this. Were you driving or walking down the street or like just leaving your car?'

Edit: What was the initial reason for the stop? You said you got two traffic charges as well?

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

LOL..well, you can get pulled over for just about anything these days,and even just to check to see if you have current inspection/reg, and insurance,for safety.Once they ran your license,found you had outstanding traffic charges/meaning YOU HAVENT PAID THEM,means you generally have a warrant.So they took you in on that for sure,and had reason to search the vehicle,once done,found some form of substances,and added that to your charges as well, in which gives them the right to seize the vehicle..In other words..you are a complete DUM- AZZ..Get your Chit straight man, or deal with the issues in the future.

 

[Silverado SS 10+ year member]

This happens way more than people think its really ludicrous.

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

LOL..well, you can get pulled over for just about anything these days,and even just to check to see if you have current inspection/reg, and insurance,for safety.Once they ran your license,found you had outstanding traffic charges/meaning YOU HAVENT PAID THEM,means you generally have a warrant.So they took you in on that for sure,and had reason to search the vehicle,once done,found some form of substances,and added that to your charges as well, in which gives them the right to seize the vehicle..In other words..you are a complete DUM- AZZ..Get your Chit straight man, or deal with the issues in the future.

wrong. i had no warrants or unpaid parking tickets so way to talk without knowing. the traffic tickets were for something hangin from rearview mirror said it obstructed my view and they said my tires werent proper tread for this time of year cause they are low profile tires with only little amounts of tread i would have to look at exact charge but it was like improper tire tread or some **** like that.. i was taken IN for the paraphernalia that was in my CLOSED GLOVE BOX so they should have never found it if they were going by the rules/laws as I was told them..

 

[Knowmadic 10+ year member]

What was the initial stop for though?

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

I'm currently enrolled in a Criminal Justice class so can help you a bit with this. Were you driving or walking down the street or like just leaving your car?'
Edit: What was the initial reason for the stop? You said you got two traffic charges as well?

the reason for the stop was I was looked suspicious they asked me why I had 3 air freshners also hanging from my wiper arm beside my steering wheel which they would have never saw until they walked up to the car window because its below window level from outside i checked to see for myself already.. i honestly think they were just trying to **** with me.. the cop called in for another car to come and he asked if I had any weapons in the car I said I had a pocket knife that was closed in my middle consol and he grabbed that out of car then proceeded to start opening glove box and going through the rest of my car.

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

in the written report I have he also said I seemed "nervous" about the stop and that made him further suspicious of me... it was kinda messed up he had me stand outside my car in the freezing cold with a t-shirt for 15 mins while he sat in his car checking me for warrants and waitin for the second officer who was in an un-marked car

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

what pisses me off is they lost personal property of mine also that they took off of me when they arrested me and it was never put in the paper envelope thing they put my wallet, keys, and other personal stuff in and I lost a day of work the day after because I didnt get released til almost 4 a.m. and I have to miss another day to goto a hearing at a magistrate here in about 2 weeks.

 

[Knowmadic 10+ year member]

Well the laws states that officers may pull you over for reasonable suspicion. The key word there being reasonable pretty much means if he believes that a crime has taken place or is going to take place then he may pull you over. Once he pulls you over for the suspected crime the officer will do a few things, he will do the usual "license and registration" and then he will ask if you have any weapons(for the officers safety) and if you do the officer may or may not call backup depending on if he feels threatened in the situation. Calling backup does not mean you are in extra trouble it is just for the officers safety. When he asked you to step out of the car you were being held under investigative detention. I'm assuming he quickly patted you down(terry frisked) to check for more weapons. At this point he is fully allowed to search your vehicle for a reasonable amount of time. Again the key word is reasonable meaning if you were giving sass or being a prick to the officer he'll be much longer and more thorough in his search and vice versa. He does not need your consent to search your car while he has reasonable suspicion. I'm assuming you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to be honest, probably in a run down part of the neighborhood. I'd appeal those two traffic charges but since it's your first offense they will go light on the paraphernalia.

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

Well the laws states that officers may pull you over for reasonable suspicion. The key word there being reasonable pretty much means if he believes that a crime has taken place or is going to take place then he may pull you over. Once he pulls you over for the suspected crime the officer will do a few things, he will do the usual "license and registration" and then he will ask if you have any weapons(for the officers safety) and if you do the officer may or may not call backup depending on if he feels threatened in the situation. Calling backup does not mean you are in extra trouble it is just for the officers safety. When he asked you to step out of the car you were being held under investigative detention. I'm assuming he quickly patted you down(terry frisked) to check for more weapons. At this point he is fully allowed to search your vehicle for a reasonable amount of time. Again the key word is reasonable meaning if you were giving sass or being a prick to the officer he'll be much longer and more thorough in his search and vice versa. He does not need your consent to search your car while he has reasonable suspicion. I'm assuming you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to be honest, probably in a run down part of the neighborhood. I'd appeal those two traffic charges but since it's your first offense they will go light on the paraphernalia.

yeah your exactly right he searched me immediately but I had nothing on me I was nice and respectful because being a **** only gets you in further trouble but unfortunately it didnt seem to help me out too much, I wasnt in a bad part of town but I have been working in bad parts of town ...perhaps they thought I was down there for drugs and follwed me and I didnt know... We have been doing an apartment building in a really bad part of town and we have an account with a huge section 8 housing plan to redo every unit when someone moves out to redo all the flooring in it so they can re-rent it because they destroy it everytime... these are both in really bad areas the one had a shooting 2 days before we started it about 20 feet from the front door of the building and the section 8 place had a shootin up the road from the unit we worked in like 3-4 days before we did it...

 

[Knowmadic 10+ year member]

Sometimes you can't really avoid these things, even being nice doesn't help you all the time but if you weren't it could have definitely been worse. Maybe he was one of the more dishonest police officers and was just profiling or out to get someone or maybe he followed you from that part of town, can't really say for sure. In the future I'd say just keep the paraphernalia at home and you won't have anything to worry about. Also some motivation to keep being nice to officers and to look on the bright side, I've seen some officers take a little over 2 hours to search a car, while the kids sat on the curb in the freezing cold. They were running their mouths and the cop made them pay for that, he found nothing but taught a lesson. Best of luck in court, just be truthful and sincere.

 

[jtomsic 5,000+ posts]

Sometimes you can't really avoid these things, even being nice doesn't help you all the time but if you weren't it could have definitely been worse. Maybe he was one of the more dishonest police officers and was just profiling or out to get someone or maybe he followed you from that part of town, can't really say for sure. In the future I'd say just keep the paraphernalia at home and you won't have anything to worry about. Also some motivation to keep being nice to officers and to look on the bright side, I've seen some officers take a little over 2 hours to search a car, while the kids sat on the curb in the freezing cold. They were running their mouths and the cop made them pay for that, he found nothing but taught a lesson. Best of luck in court, just be truthful and sincere.

my grandfather is chief of police in the town I live in but unfortunately we live in washington county and pittsburgh is in allegheny county(city is only like 18 miles from my house) but he doesnt have as much pull in that county but none the less he told me he is gonig to try and help me out by talking to the cop or magistrate.. i was glad they didnt rip my car apart searching it like I've heard/seen them do to other peoples cars..they ripped headliners off, door panels, and seats out and then left it all sitting there and didnt put it back even afer not finding anything... I had a cadillac in high school and a state cop searched my car and he actually broke my glove box open searching my car but didnt find anything that time... glove box never would stay shut after that lol

 

[Beatin' 10+ year member]

stfu and get a lawyer asap. Tell him what happened and let him handle it. If you were wronged by that police agency, not only will charges be dropped/thrown out by the judge, but you may be able to sue and come out better than you were.

this happens all the time. The police will break the law constantly because they know from experience that they don't get punished for it because the victims of such harrassment don't legally push back. The victims just want the experience to end and never do anything about it.

 

[jdawg90 10+ year member]

that whole situation is fucked up