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Have I got this right? (Or even close?)
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Ok, in MN, officer claims suspicion due to slowing down and stopping completely at stop sign - radar at "20 - 24 in a 55mph zone", and "5-10 seconds" at stop sign (actual was 7. Ran my plates, checked my history (reality is a pretext, but my understanding is that this is subjective and bears nothing on the objective reality of the case). Apparently noticed that my license plate lights were completely non-functional, so whipped around and hit the lights signaling me to stop. ( As any other reasonable person, my understanding is that I am no longer free to go. I have now been seized, and my freedom of movement is now greatly restricted/diminished completely). Comes up on passenger side making cursory glance toward what may have been my plate area - I can't possibly prove or know- as he comes up. upon asking why we were stopped he responds with (to driver) "I'll tell you in a bit, could you please step out of the vehicle and sit on my front bumper - this after her admitting to no valid DL. Does NOT tell either myself or driver why we were stopped until after vehicle is off, we are detained, and searched --- None of which should matter one bit in the grand scheme of things. Here's what matters, I believe, the license plate lights were (and are),as I KNEW whence finally told and unable to prove at the moment, BOTH FULLY FUNCTIONAL. Now..... An officers mistake of fact is inherently a very REASONABLE thing, as they just people (robots) too. Sorry, couldn't help myself there, I have some opinions. SO, him stopping me because he BELIEVED my plate lights didn't work would be reasonable under the law. Not much I can do there, is what it is. My thoughts on the matter are that if someone is being stopped for bulbs not working, one would take a quick peek as they are already passing right by them anyway, maybe he didn't. Lazy police work? Pretext and just wanted to stop me and too impatient or stupid to make something better up as reason for stop? Anyway, it's hard to tell in video due to his headlights and cherries, but there IS a moment one CAN see plate lit up from well beyond the 50 feet statute minimum, and the trainee was nice enough to catch on his bodycam both of my lights working properly and completely every time he went past the things. (Main guy here doesn't have body cams in their department yet, incoming any day though....) So, long story conclusion here : everything good and well until he passed by my plate lights. At that point any REASONABLE PERSON (officer in this case) would look at the lights to verify functionality or lack thereof, and since this IS THE basis to the entire stop, at the point when any REASONABLE officer would or should have glanced at the lights, (this guy apparently chose not to for whatever his reasons were) realized that they WERE FUNCTIONAL, and he no longer had any probable cause NOR reasonable suspicion - which I absolutely agree he DID, until he got close enough to see for himself, so he at that point should have simply turned around for in his vehicle and left. ( Or, if he really REALLY needed to, walk up, explain himself, then am-scray as stated previously. As of now, it is an illegal unconstitutional stop. Basically correct?

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1 month ago