Legal Question in Criminal Law in New York

What is the law pertaining to beer can in a brown paper bag, do the police in new york city have the right to make someone unveil the paper bag to show it's contents. i understand that they may have probable cause or suspicions but what exactly does that mean? here is an example of what i mean;

you are walking down the sidewalk with a container coverd in a brown paper bag

police pull up on you and ask what's in the bag? why is it suspicious to be sipping on something out of a straw why cant it be a soda or anything else but beer how is that probable cause?

asking what is in my bag is my business unless i am clearly breaking some sort of law isnt it. if i am drinking a can of ice tea that happen to be wrapped in a brown bag and the police ask me what i am drinking and i tell him it's icetea, do he have the right to tell me to show him and must i do so?

and also do he have the right to grab the bag out of my hand to look for himself if i rufuse?


Asked on 5/27/10, 8:18 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Joel Salinger Law Office of Joel R. Salinger

You are right on one hand, what is in the bag is your business unless you are breaking a law, that being said, having an open container of alcohol and drinking it in public is against the law. If a police officer has a reasonable suspicion that a crime is being committed they have the right to inquire, if that rises to reasonable or probable cause then they have the right to arrest. In the case of a container in a paper bag, obscuring the contents, that is enough to create reasonable suspicion, refusing to reveal the contents is probable cause. On a public street, you do not have the right to refuse and the police do have the limited right to inspect.

Read more
Answered on 5/27/10, 3:49 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Criminal Law questions and answers in New York