If you're really the OP why are you on the name 'banana321' and not 'whatrights' are you just making up a story or something? Lol

If you really are the OP, your friend should have locked the door and rolled up the window when he got out. If the cop smells weed, he has the right to search your car.

yeah if i was the in the drivers seat there were a few things i would have done differently. i wasn't registered when i made the fml, i just made an account to reply. but hell, i got out with a clean record, a cool story, and a deepened resentment for the police and the way they dance around the constitution, although i wouldn't really call the latter (lattest?) a good thing

Yeah, these details are important. You didn't refuse a search on your property with no probable cause. You were smoking illegal drugs in public, then tried to refuse a search for another person's car when the officer clearly had probable cause. You're extremely lucky that you got off with just a temporary handcuffing and the loss of your drugs and paraphernalia. You could easily still be in jail if the officer had felt like it, headed for a court date where you would doubtless be found guilty.

yeah i'm lucky i got off with just that, but i kind of think he didn't have probable cause, there was nothing in view and he tried (and succeeded) to intimidate my friend into giving him the right to search the car. and i feel like if he had probable cause, he would have just done it and not needed to beg for permission. and i doubt it would ever end in jail, since i live in california and the only punishment for possession is a ticket, and i wasn't being terribly difficult. but who knows, maybe i could have been a (kind of) martyr for the cause of ridiculous uses of taxpayer resources haha

he obviously smelled it on you, hence the only reason why you might be "unlucky" is because you were pulled over and asked to be searched after smoking illegal drugs. He had probable cause to believe that you had drugs in the car (that you smelled of it) hence, this is not a violation of the fourth amendment, and you're retarded.

i never claimed he violated the fourth amendment, i was just annoyed at how resentful he was of the fact that i knew my rights (needlessly handcuffing me, a move that was obviously much more to scare me than for his protection, we were in a semi well-off san diego suburb by the beach and had no signs of any violent tendencies). when he searched the car, my friend (who owns the car) had given him permission, after he had asked several times in a very intimidating way. but as far as i know, there's no law against police officers intimidating you into giving up your rights, so there weren't any constitutional infringements as far as i know, although he was dancing around the line quite a bit.

@226, this is totally false. An officer must have reasonable suspicion of a crime or contraband to search a person. Our constitution protects us from unreasonable search and seizure. If refused consent gives reasonable suspicion to search, then cops could search anywhere as long as they asked. The judicial system interprets and applies the law. Cops do not.

@226: if refusing a search meant that there was probable cause to go ahead and search, that would render refusing searches useless.

#226, but that means you can't win. If you deny to a search, the cops would think you're hiding something, thus having "probable cause" and could search your vehicle/house/person etc. legally. Either the American police system is more ****** up than I realized, or #226 is a liar and just likes to hear them self talk. No offense, but I'm guessing the latter.