Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Virginia

On Wednesday May 4, 2011 @10:00pm myself and my friend where backing out of my car in my drive way address: 200 Grandville arch. We back out into the street with the steering wheel turned left. Then we drove forward for a couple of yards to have room to back the car in the driveway so that work could be done in the morning. Our lights were on when we entered the street. A police car was approaching in the opposite direction and he made a left as we were backing into the drive way. I saw the police car drive down the street make a u turn and drive to the front of my drive way and put on a bright light. By this time my friend made his way into the house I had jumped in the driver seat to search for my cell phone which had fell behind his back seat. When I got out of my car in the drive way and head towards my side door car an Officer by the name of Pablo Finelli shouted �can I talk to you sir�. I said �Yeah whats up�. At that time officer Finelli started asking me for identification and I asked him �for what I have done nothing wrong� He stated that because the car pull out of the drive way slowly turned on the right turn signal and then backed into the driveway that was suspicious. I told him �you are harassing me take me to jail if I have done something wrong� I then asked him does he have �Probable Cause� to come on my property, hold me up ask me for my information, run my plates, and ring my door bell Officer Finelli stated again because I pull out slowly stopped and backed in to my driveway �it seems suspicious. Under the 4th amendment In the United States, the police must, whenever practicable, obtain advance judicial approval of searches and seizures through the appropriate warrant procedure. In most instances, failure to comply with the warrant requirement can only be excused by exigent circumstances. There should be circumstances sufficient to warrant a prudent man to believe that the person stopped had committed or was committing an offense. Intrusions upon constitutionally guaranteed rights must be based on more than unarticulated hunches, and simple good faith on part of the officer is not enough. The facts should prove reasonable inferences derived from unusual conduct. Under Fourth Amendment, police are authorized to conduct a warrantless protective pat-down of individuals they encounter in the field so long as their concerns are justified by reasonable suspicion of possible danger. Case: Cost v. Commonwealth, 2008. Officer Finelli had not right to hold me up nor come on to my property based on the 4th amendment which is my right as an American citizen. Moments later Sgt.Julian Evans pulls up walks on my property very calm trying to control and fix the situation. I asked Sgt. Evans why were they harassing me without �probable cause� because backing into a driveway is not probable cause I then asked �is it because I�m black�. Sgt. Evans said �no I�m black� At that point Sgt. Evans said �his license is suspended�. I said yes but I wasn�t driving, I didn�t get pulled over and we should be having this conversation because of they have no �probable cause�. Sgt. Evans got mad and told Officer Finelli �write him a summons� and then he said �no let�s go get a warrant come back and arrest his ass�. Due to me holding officers to the law which is I can�t be stop without �probable cause under the 4th amendment�. They took a warrant out for me for driving on a suspended license and I wasn�t pulled over nor seen driving. I was only seen in the driver seat. I wasn�t read any Miranda rights I was just told they were coming back to arrest me. Officers showed up that night flashing lights in the house ringing the door bell many times. Your officers didn�t like that I was defending my rights and they felt a certain way about it. In turn they wanted me to pay in some way so they returned with a warrant that is not valid because I wasn�t seen driving the car nor was I pulled of nor did probable cause plays a factor on how the situation was handled.

Am i right or was the officer within his rights

1 Answer from Attorneys

Related Questions & Answers

More Civil Rights Law questions and answers in Virginia

Looking for something else?