What to do when they come for you

When junior Spencer Lee was forced into a car without explanation, taken to an unfamiliar house full of strangers and prevented from leaving, he did not go to the police for help. They were the ones who took him there.

Like many Blazers who have had run-ins with the cops, guilt-free Lee learned that bad things happen to good people. But the knowledge that could really have helped Lee is that while your innocence won't always protect you, the Constitution will—regardless of your guilt. Even if you are in the wrong, you still need to know your rights.

Age of innocence

For Lee, an innocent walk in the park turned out to be anything but due to his lack of knowledge of his civil liberties.

Lee had just left a party near Eastern Middle School in Silver Spring and was heading toward the neighborhood park when he saw several cop cars approaching him. "I ducked because I wasn't supposed to be in the park at night," Lee says.

But the officers saw him. Several officers got out of the car and started questioning Lee about his intentions. When they asked if he was coming from a party, Lee responded truthfully.

That's when the cops left legality in the dust and began a campaign of intimidation. "They said, ‘You have to come with us. Get in the car,'" Lee recalls. "I was like, ‘What is it?' And they were like, ‘Just get in the car,'" he says.

Lee, not wanting to make trouble, complied. After being searched and handcuffed, he got in the car alongside two teenagers who had been caught elsewhere.

Once the car started, the cops told Lee that a nearby party had been busted for underage drinking and that they suspected he had fled the scene. Since Lee had come from an alcohol-free party, he informed the police that they were mistaken.

"They just laughed and said ‘yeah right,'" he says. "They treated me sarcastically and ignored me."

When they arrived at the unfamiliar house, everyone at the party asserted that they had never seen Lee before, but the cops still made Lee wait 40 minutes for the breathalizers to arrive. Only after he took the test and yielded negative results did the officers let Lee go.

Lee never filed a complaint against the officers, but he certainly had the grounds to do so. "They never formally said I was arrested," says Lee.

According to Montgomery County Police Captain and Director of the Media Services Division Bill O'Toole, Lee was being detained. "Detention is when a police officer stops the person and makes it clear that he is not free to go," he says.

However, explains O'Toole, police are not permitted to move you during detention. They are also expected to tell the detainee why he or she is in custody. "If it doesn't jeopardize anyone's safety to explain why," O'Toole says, "we explain to the person why the stop occurred."

Constitution vs. corruption

Senior Josh Pesantez says he knows all too well that cops do not always play nice, and he learned this grim fact the hard way.

Pesantez's wake-up call occurred when he and three others were leaving a friend's house and were heading to one of Blair's dances. "A police officer pulled us over," he recalls. "He pulled out a gun. He was cursing. He said he knew there was dope in the car."

Then, says Pesantez, the officer, along with additional police back-up, ordered everyone out of the vehicle and proceeded to interrogate, separate and search each person. The officer searched Pesantez's car but did not seem satisfied with the lack of illegal substances. "I was like, ‘Did you find anything?' and he was like, ‘No, where are you keeping it?'" Pesantez recounts.

Then, the police officer searched Pesantez's car seven more times and even pulled apart the fabric of the ceiling. All the while, Pesantez says, he and his friends lay handcuffed on the ground.

When the officers finished searching the teens, they photographed every one of them and asked each person for their identification and address. Although not required by law, everyone complied. "We just did it so we could get out of there," Pesantez explains.

O'Toole, however, does not think civil liberties violations are a widespread problem in Montgomery County. "We conducted
41,000 traffic stops in the last six months, and as a result of those stops, only nine formal complaints [against officers] have been filed," O'Toole says.

"That tells us that we're doing a pretty good job."

But when Pesantez asked the officer for his badge number, which, along with his rank and station, he is legally required to give on demand, the officer refused. "Instead, he gave us a phone number to call some precinct," Pesantez says. "When I called, they said he didn't work there."

The mystery officer's actions violated Pesantez's Constitutional right to protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

Although the Supreme Court ruled in Ross v. United States (1982) that your right to privacy in your car is significantly lower than in your home, Fourth Amendment rights still apply. An officer cannot search your vehicle during a traffic stop unless there is contraband in plain view, the officer has probable cause or you give your consent, says Nolo Law Center (NLC).

Probable cause can range from the smell of weed emanating from the car to a weapon-shaped lump, says NLC. But since not all suspicions are covered under the umbrella of probable cause, officers have to have more than a hunch to search your car.

According to NLC, when you consent to a search of your vehicle, anything found during it can be used as evidence against you in court. However, if you refuse permission for your vehicle to be searched by an officer, the lines begin to gray. The officer might continue the search, in which case you should not physically try to stop him, but if a judge later decides the search was illegal, whatever the officer finds is inadmissible in court.

While your rights will protect you, they can only help you if you know them. If you're worried that they might escape you under pressure, just remember the four easy words with which you can never go wrong: I want a lawyer.