Can the Police Stop Me For No Reason?

Can the Police Stop Me For No Reason?

The answer to the questions is no. A police officer must have a reasonable and articulable suspicion that you are violating a traffic law or some other law in order to stop your vehicle. A police officer cannot stop you just because he or she thinks you are suspicious. Nor can a police officer stop your vehicle to investigate you absent some other justification to make the traffic stop. The Missouri Court of Appeals has stated that the existence of reasonable suspicion is an objective determination to be made based on the totality of the circumstances. In short, if a police officer initiates a traffic stop without a reasonable and articulable suspicion, it is a violation of your 4th Amendment rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.

Despite these rights that are in place to protect citizens, police officers throughout the St. Louis area frequently violate these rights by initiating a traffic stop without reason. If an officer has pulled you over without a reasonable and articulable suspicion and as a result of the illegal stop evidence is found to arrest you, that evidence may be suppressed in the criminal case against you. This illegally obtained evidence may be the sole basis to support a criminal charge against you. If that is the case and the evidence is suppressed, it may lead to a dismissal of charges against you.

The St. Louis criminal defense attorneys of Henderson & Waterkotte, P.C. will thoroughly and aggressively investigate all the circumstances surrounding your arrest, including whether the traffic stop was illegal. If you or a loved one has been charged with a crime in or around St. Louis as a result of a traffic stop, contact our experienced criminal defense team today to schedule a free consultation. Our firm has attorneys licensed in Missouri and Illinois.