Legal Question in Criminal Law in Ohio

4th and 14th Amendment rights violations by WPD

The reason I am writing this letter is because Monday night October 9, 2006 my wife and I were pulled over by the Wooster Police Department after they had followed us for a good 5-10 minutes. When they pulled us over they asked my wife for her driver�s license, registration, and insurance. She happened to not have her license on her, so she gave the officer her information. Then they asked for my ID, which I gave them. They ran us both for warrants and we both came back negative.

Next they asked my wife if they could search the car and she told them no. So they brought out the dog and had him sniff the car and said that he got a hit �. We continued to ask the police why they had pulled us over and they said that it was because my wife failed to stop behind the crosswalk sign at the stop sign (Her tires were allegedly over the white line at the stop sign). They pulled both of us out of the car and patted us down. They also reached inside our pockets and when they did they allegedly found one pain pill on me and three on my wife.

After searching us they searched the car, but failed to find any drugs. After all of this was over. The complete search were they even had me take off my shoes, they let us go without even a citation.


Asked on 10/11/06, 6:12 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Willard Hanner Hanner Law Firm

Re: 4th and 14th Amendment rights violations by WPD

What exactly are you asking?

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Answered on 10/11/06, 6:39 pm
David Davies Law Office of David H. Davies

Re: 4th and 14th Amendment rights violations by WPD

The questions raised by your information are: 1. did the police have a right to stop You? It does not sound like they had a legitimate reason to stop you-If they had found something in the car or on you and filed criminal charges, most likely you would have been able to keep them from using the evidence.

2. Did they have a right to search the car? Probably not and same answer as 1.

3. Were your rights violated? Sure sounds like it.

4. Do you have a remedy? Not likely-you could file an action for violation of your rights but the cost would be prohibitive. I doubt that you would get anyone to take the case on a contigency basis and if you win-your damages are minimal from a dollar stand point.

I would be happy to talk to you further about this if you like but I don't see a case here. If you don't regularly travel through Wooster, it may not be a bad idea to send a letter to the law director for the City-but again, I don't see any benefit to you.

Good Luck

DHD

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Answered on 10/12/06, 10:55 am


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