5Th Circuit: air fresheners, rosaries, or pro-police bumper stickers SUSPICIOUS!

[boutons_deux]

Court Declares Air Fresheners, Pro-Police Stickers as Reasonable Suspicion For Cops to Pull You Over

Nohemi Pena-Gonzalez was pulled over by Police Officer Mike Tamez when she was driving just 2 MPH over the speed limit. The officer did not pull her over because she was speeding, but because he suspected that she was trafficking drugs, and found the contents of her vehicle and the sticker to be suspicious.

Eventually, the officer questioned her husband, Ruben Pena-Gonzalez, who agreed to allow the officer search to their vehicle. The officer did not find any drugs, but did find a large sum of cash that he confiscated, and then sent Ruben Pena-Gonzalez to jail.


“We do have concerns :lol that classifying pro-law enforcement and anti-drug stickers or certain religious imagery as indicators of criminal activity risks putting drivers in a classic ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ position. :lol

But we need not decide whether these items alone, or in combination with one another, amount to reasonable suspicion because we find the more suspicious evidence to be the array of air fresheners and inconsistencies in the driver’s responses to the officer’s basic questions.

We have long recognized that the presence of air fresheners, let alone four of them placed throughout an SUV, suggests a desire to mask the odor of contraband. :lol”


This ruling upholds the idea that police officers can profile and detain people who aren’t actually committing any crimes.

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/court-declares-air-fresheners-pro-police-stickers-reasonable-suspicion-cops-pull

... especially if the We The People are black or brown.

[Splits]

Do you smell that? That's the smell of freedom

[CosmicCowboy]

uhhh...I would call $670,000 in cash in garbage sacks hidden in a false panel of the Tahoe probable cause for arrest.

Typical alternet bullshit.

[boutons_deux]

uhhh...I would call $670,000 in cash in garbage sacks hidden in a false panel of the Tahoe probable cause for arrest.

Typical alternet bullshit.

the cash wasn't the point. The air fresheners, pro-cop sticker makes ANYONE of legitimate suspect.

[russellgoat]

the cash wasn't the point. The air fresheners, pro-cop sticker makes ANYONE of legitimate suspect.


But I thought you are okay with this because you hate Christianity. Maybe you hate this because there are more Mexicans with rosaries in their cars than evil white men.

[CosmicCowboy]

the cash wasn't the point. The air fresheners, pro-cop sticker makes ANYONE of legitimate suspect.

speeding was point #1. Evasive and inconsistent answers #2. 4 freaking brand new stinky air fresheners strike #3. Cash probably smelled like dope.

Might not just assume alternet is giving you an unbiased reporting of facts.

[boutons_deux]

2 MPH! :lol

lane change w/o signalling! :lol

both are done 10Ms times per day, but watch out if you're black or brown

[CosmicCowboy]

2 MPH! :lol

lane change w/o signalling! :lol

both are done 10Ms times per day, but watch out if you're black or brown

I am white and got pulled over and ticketed last year for no blinker on a lane change on the freeway. Shit happens all the time. I said yes sir and no sir and signed my agreement to appear and didn't go to jail.

[boutons_deux]

I am white and got pulled over and ticketed last year for no blinker on a lane change on the freeway. Shit happens all the time. I said yes sir and no sir and signed my agreement to appear and didn't go to jail.

#WhiteLivesMatter

[mrsmaalox]

Try driving an SUV for 5 years hauling 3 kids and 3 dogs--the 4 air fresheners won't be suspicious at all!

[CosmicCowboy]

Try driving an SUV for 5 years hauling 3 kids and 3 dogs--the 4 air fresheners won't be suspicious at all!

:lmao

whassup darlin? What are you doing slumming over here?

[SupremeGuy]

uhhh...I would call $670,000 in cash in garbage sacks hidden in a false panel of the Tahoe probable cause for arrest.

Typical alternet bullshit.But but but air fresheners and bumper stickers :cry

[boutons_deux]

But but but air fresheners and bumper stickers :cry

you rightwingnuts are fucking stupid. the issue is racial/air-freshener/car-sticker profiling.

Let's see if the Feds can convict the guy. The 5th is notoriously ULTRA conservative, with judicial garbage like P. Owen.

[TheSanityAnnex]

the cash wasn't the point. The air fresheners, pro-cop sticker makes ANYONE of legitimate suspect.

She was free to go with a warning after the initial stop, it was her dumb ass that gave the officer permission to speak to her husband.

[boutons_deux]

She was free to go with a warning after the initial stop, it was her dumb ass that gave the officer permission to speak to her husband.

you haven't watched the vid without pro-police-at-all-cost shit in your eyes

[SupremeGuy]

you rightwingnuts are fucking stupid. the issue is racial/air-freshener/car-sticker profiling.

Let's see if the Feds can convict the guy. The 5th is notoriously ULTRA conservative, with judicial garbage like P. Owen.#airfreshenersmatter

[TheSanityAnnex]

you haven't watched the vid without pro-police-at-all-cost shit in your eyes
Did she give the officer permission to speak to her husband yes or no?

[DarrinS]

#airfreshenersmatter

:lmao

[TeyshaBlue]

:lol alternet

[boutons_deux]

Did she give the officer permission to speak to her husband yes or no?

she asked to record the prick, and he said, unConstitutionally, no.

[TheSanityAnnex]

she asked to record the prick, and he said, unConstitutionally, no.

Did she give the officer permission to speak to her husband yes or no?

[Wild Cobra]

uhhh...I would call $670,000 in cash in garbage sacks hidden in a false panel of the Tahoe probable cause for arrest.

Typical alternet bullshit.
Agreed.

What part of the story isn't being told?

I wish we had someone to replace Paul Harvey.

I'd like to read "the rest of the story."

[boutons_deux]

Did she give the officer permission to speak to her husband yes or no?

I don't know. Is that against the law?

[Wild Cobra]

2 MPH! :lol

lane change w/o signalling! :lol

both are done 10Ms times per day, but watch out if you're black or brown
Or if it's 2 AM...

Now in this case, if there wasn't the overwhelming smell of FOUR new air fresheners, maybe it wouldn't be so suspicious?

Boutons....

Have you ever used four new air fresheners in a car at the same time?

[Wild Cobra]

I don't know. Is that against the law?
She was the driver. Just goes to show you didn't read the source material. Just your altershit link.

[FromWayDowntown]

When I was in graduate school, I was stopped near Junction, Texas for "driving suspiciously slowly" because as I was coming down a hill on I-10, I tapped my brakes to control my speed. I wasn't ticketed for that, but somehow my stop ended up being more than an hour long as I was asked to exit the vehicle and was made to sit on a highway guardrail in the midday heat as the trooper searched my car (after I had consented to the search).

I was asked to get out of the car and consent to a search for one reason: as a reached for my license, my hand hit the gearshift and I dropped the license. Flustered, I picked it up and was shaking a bit. The trooper took that as reason to think that I was nervous and that justified, in his mind, all that followed.

I later described the incident to a friend who was a DPS trooper in another part of the state. After describing my vehicle (at that point, a Honda Accord), my attire (a polo shirt and shorts with a baseball hat), and a few other things, I was told that I fit the drug courier profile and was going to be searched no matter what. I was astounded to know that just about every college-aged dude driving I-10 at that time was basically within the profile.

Back then, I didn't really understand my rights during a traffic stop and simply consented out of expedience; my thought was that if I refused to consent, that alone would have resulted in us going to Junction, seeing a magistrate so that the trooper could get a warrant, and a search of my car by a then pissed-off officer.

I know better now and while I am respectful during my infrequent meet-ups with police officers on the roadways, I'm also wary. I subsequently was stopped by a Deputy Sheriff on Highway 83 while driving one spring night and was also asked to exit the car after simply asking why I had been stopped. While standing on the roadside, I asked the Game Warden (who had been instructed to wait with me) whether I was under arrest. I didn't think the question was in any way inappropriate and I didn't ask it in a smart-assed or disrespectful way. I simply wanted to know where I stood. The question, though, resulted in the Deputy flying out of his vehicle with a flashlight put directly in my face and asking me to repeat the question. I asked again "Am I under arrest" and his response to me was "Do you want to be?" I told him, of course, that I did not but also said that I thought it was important to know so that I could determine what my rights were at that moment in time (given the prior stop and search). There was nothing threatening about my question or my explanation for asking it, but he started talking to me about being a smart ass and all sorts of other things. He relented after his line of questioning established that I was studying law and was close to graduating; I don't know that the outcome would have been as favorable had my answers to those questions been different.

You can say "yes, sir" and "no, sir" all day long, but that doesn't ensure that the stop will end with a ticket and a have a nice day.

[vy65]

the cash wasn't the point. The air fresheners, pro-cop sticker makes ANYONE of legitimate suspect.

That's the opposite of what's in the opinion you fucking idiot.

[vy65]

We do have concerns that classifying pro-law enforcement and anti-drug stickers or certain religious imagery as indicators of criminal activity risks putting drivers “in a classic ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ position.” See United
States v. Escamilla, 560 F.2d 1229, 1233 (5th Cir. 1977); see also United States v. Townsend, 305 F.3d 537, 544 (6th Cir. 2002) (holding that, despite the officer’s assertion that “the presence of a Bible in the car was suspicious because drug couriers often display religious symbols to deflect suspicion of illegal activity,” the Bible “is a very weak indicator of criminal activity”); cf. Estep v. Dallas Cnty., Tex., 310 F.3d 353, 358–59 (5th Cir. 2002) (holding that
an NRA sticker on a car should not have been considered in assessing the reasonableness of the officer’s suspicion that the driver was dangerous). But we need not decide whether these items alone, or in combination with one another, amount to reasonable suspicion because we find the more suspicious evidence to be the array of air fresheners and inconsistencies in the driver’s responses to the officer’s basic questions.

So the court a) cited, with explaining parentheticals, cases holding the opposite of what J:lolhn Vibe says, b) stated explicitly that it was not giving a ruling regarding the presence of air fresheners/stickers alone (again, opposite of what J:lolhn Vibe says) because c) the presence of these items along with inconsistencies in the driver's responses to basic questions (not mentioned by J:lolhn Vibe) created PC.

Methinks J:lolhn Vibe went to Boutons School of Law.
:lol John Vibe
:lol not accurately quoting the court's opinion
:lol investigative journalist
:lol not qualified to give a legal opinion
:lol alternet
:lol buttons

[TheSanityAnnex]

I don't know. Is that against the law?

Point was she was free to go after the officer gave her a warning. She could have said no to the officer wanting to speak to her husband and been on her way. Instead she said yes and the husband blew it by acting nervous and suspicious during questioning. I suggest reading the full story next time before posting your bullshit. But who am I kidding you will do nothing of the sort.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

So the court a) cited, with explaining parentheticals, cases holding the opposite of what J:lolhn Vibe says, b) stated explicitly that it was not giving a ruling regarding the presence of air fresheners/stickers alone (again, opposite of what J:lolhn Vibe says) because c) the presence of these items along with inconsistencies in the driver's responses to basic questions (not mentioned by J:lolhn Vibe) created PC.

Methinks J:lolhn Vibe went to Boutons School of Law.
:lol John Vibe
:lol not accurately quoting the court's opinion
:lol investigative journalist
:lol not qualified to give a legal opinion
:lol alternet
:lol buttons

Way to split hairs on a point of fact that is meaningless, Crayola. Backing it up by snark, classic. You're sure to make partner soon.

[vy65]

Way to split hairs on a point of fact that is meaningless, Crayola. Backing it up by snark, classic. You're sure to make partner soon.


tl;dr don't care about to hear you repeat shit from your intro to logic class textbook

you tout being a superior man, you have half this board on ignore. you're a fucking coward.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

:lol the notion that the accounts I have ignored are lacking other outlets. willful stupidity or legitimate?

Your problem vy65 is that while you make such claims of apathy we both know that not to be the case. The difference? I just left while you repeatedly spam post about how you don't care.

Oh and btw, I have never taken a logic course. OTOH, I know for a fact that law schools do teach it. If what I was saying was from a logic textbook why would that be a bad thing? Does intellectual cowardice like that work in court? Wait! What was I thinking. They don't let you make arguments in court.

[DarrinS]

Oh and btw, I have never taken a logic course.

Shocking :lmao

[tlongII]

lol alternet

[vy65]

:lol the notion that the accounts I have ignored are lacking other outlets. willful stupidity or legitimate?

Your problem vy65 is that while you make such claims of apathy we both know that not to be the case. The difference? I just left while you repeatedly spam post about how you don't care.

Oh and btw, I have never taken a logic course. OTOH, I know for a fact that law schools do teach it. If what I was saying was from a logic textbook why would that be a bad thing? Does intellectual cowardice like that work in court? Wait! What was I thinking. They don't let you make arguments in court.


tl;dr don't care about to hear you repeat shit from your friend's intro to logic class textbook (lol didn't even take logic)

you tout being a superior man, you have half this board on ignore. you're a fucking coward.

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Shocking :lmao

Formal logic? No, I have not. I have studied number theory and topology though. So have you and talking with you about how models are conceived and related, you now know shit about it. We can come back to this again. Did UTSA let you graduate without having to learn it or have you just lost it all in the decades since?

[RedStripe]

Oh and btw, I have never taken a logic courseyou probably still have time to enroll in one at your local community college. Would highly recommend it.

[Blake]

When I was in graduate school, I was stopped near Junction, Texas for "driving suspiciously slowly" because as I was coming down a hill on I-10....

Yah, I got stopped one time heading down to SA somewhere north of junction on US83.

There was a 50/50 split in the road and I veered to the left, didn't even switch lanes. Cop told me he pulled me over because I failed to signal. He asked the usual "where you heading" small talk and then told me he needed to check my luggage and trunk without giving me any reason.

After the search, he let me go without even giving me a written warning. I've been pulled over about 15 times in my life, definitely the weirdest.

[DarrinS]

Formal logic? No, I have not. I have studied number theory and topology though. So have you and talking with you about how models are conceived and related, you now know shit about it. We can come back to this again. Did UTSA let you graduate without having to learn it or have you just lost it all in the decades since?

Ooh, a UTSA burn. Well done. Maybe I'll graduate to crayon or your coveted ignore list. :lmao

[DarrinS]

Yah, I got stopped one time heading down to SA somewhere north of junction on US83.

There was a 50/50 split in the road and I veered to the left, didn't even switch lanes. Cop told me he pulled me over because I failed to signal. He asked the usual "where you heading" small talk and then told me he needed to check my luggage and trunk without giving me any reason.

After the search, he let me go without even giving me a written warning. I've been pulled over about 15 times in my life, definitely the weirdest.



Cuck musk sets them off, tbh.

[Wild Cobra]

Ooh, a UTSA burn. Well done. Maybe I'll graduate to crayon or your coveted ignore list. :lmao

Wow...

I'm still using coal...

[Wild Cobra]

---dp---

[Blake]

Oh it's a good thing you put that in blue font.