Pulled Over For Going Below The Speed Limit

[Music] welcome to audit the audit where we sort out the who and what and the right and wrong of police interactions this episode covers driving below the speed limit officer questioning and reasonable suspicion and comes to us from the bato size channel be sure to check out the description below and give them the credit that they deserve before we dive into the interaction i want to give a big thanks to the sponsor of this episode surf shark surfshark is a premier vpn service that offers unparalleled digital security for a fraction of the price of other competitors surfshark offers its users one of the most secure vpn tunnels on the market with absolutely no data logs so not even surf shark employees can see what you're doing online one of the best features of surfshark is their hacklock id protection which sends you a notification whenever surf shark detects your personal information in an unwanted database with hack lock you get reassurance that your account information is being 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you uh give me your id you who you work for there your your shirt build my oil company delmar oil company okay how long have you been there my ass why that is i'm just talking to you i see your shirt there i'm just asking is it is it is it wrong to ask you questions about where you work well i'm just trying to figure out what that has to do with it with the stump okay all right well if you don't want you know just casual conversation that's fine because i got you stopped here you're driving 65 and you you know speed limit 7 i'm just wondering what's wrong are you okay like all states north carolina has legislated statutes regarding the speed at which vehicles may travel on public roadways subsection b of north carolina general statute 20-141 regulates the maximum speeds at which a vehicle may travel within and outside of city limits and subsection d of the code states that except while towing another vehicle or when an advisory safe speed sign indicates a slower speed or as otherwise provided by law it shall be unlawful to operate a passenger vehicle upon the interstate and primary highway system at less than 40 miles per hour in a speed zone of 55 miles per hour and 45 miles per hour in a speed zone of 60 miles per hour or greater although mr perry was clearly not in violation of either of these statutes subsection h of the code offers law enforcement a wider range of authority in regards to traveling below the speed limit by stating that no person shall operate a motor vehicle on the highway at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law if driving five miles below the speed limit somehow impeded traffic then an officer would be within their authority to stop and cite a driver based on the language of subsection h and we will discuss whether or not driving slowly constitutes reasonable suspicion later in this episode it is impossible to know whether mr perry was impeding traffic by traveling below the speed limit based on the video alone however deputy snell never mentions the disturbance in traffic at any point during the interaction other than i mean you're okay if you ain't traveling five miles below the steel limit yes sir i'm just checking on you that's all i'm doing okay yes sir you good i'm great awesome are you i'm i'm doing better than i deserve you know uh you got the paperwork for the vehicle it's actually a rental car the only uh paperwork that i have is via email it's what a rental car but what were you saying about something you said something right after that the only paperwork they give you is via email okay you pull it up digitally i can't okay how long you got it for uh until i decided to take it back oh okay they don't have like a scheduled day to return it uh they do but um unfortunately for my schedule right now i'm not able to you still live in clayton i do okay what's the pungo court off of uh it's off of seven all right there you go it was due back yesterday at 2 30 young okay okay where are you coming from now the fifth amendment's right to remain silent clause protects citizens from being forced to answer questions by police officers it is important to bear in mind that anything you say may be used against you in a court and even the most mundane and trivial questions have the potential to incriminate you there are psychological elements associated with roadside questioning that extend beyond the legal implications of answering seemingly innocuous questions which must also be considered officers are trained to detect social indicators that may correlate with certain guilty behaviors and engaging in casual conversation with a suspect may reveal indicators that could lead to an officer obtaining reasonable suspicion the police one website which touts itself as a quote secure trusted and reliable online environment for the exchange of information between officers and departments across the united states and from around the world highlighted how ostensibly average replies from typical questions from an officer could be perceived as evasive and deceptive within the context of a police encounter this accuracy of this perspective is questionable but showcases the importance of invoking the right to remain silent and it is equally as important to verbally express that you wish to remain silent although mr perry does not directly invoke the right to remain silent he rightfully questions the relevance of deputy snell's inquiries where am i coming from yes sir goldsboro goldsboro is that where the office is i'm trying to understand what what's the relationship i'm trying to understand the relation to the traffic stop well i'm just trying to figure out where you're coming from where you're going mess like that so i have to identify where i'm traveling to and from during the trip all right hang out here just a minute buddy i don't understand like what the [ __ ] what's going on like yeah this here's a warning okay no court date no fine nothing like that you could throw this paper away when you get to the house and nothing to really worry about all right okay what was the warning for all right have a good day all right that's the warning for sir he didn't even say what a warning before bro sir i'm trying to understand what they're wanting for it's for traveling under the speed limit okay how about traveling what you say is kind of suspicious to travel under the speed limit when the speed limit is 70. driving a reasonable speed under the posted speed limit is not itself unlawful in fact it is sometimes required by subsection a of north carolina general statute 20-141 which states that no person shall drive a vehicle on a highway or in a public vehicular area at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions then existing that does not mean that driving under the speed limit cannot contribute to the acquisition of reasonable suspicion and result in a detainment for example in the 2000 north carolina court of appeals case of state versus bonds the court noted that the defendant's act of driving 10 miles per hour below the speed limit along with other factors sufficiently satisfied the officer's reasonable suspicion that the defendant was intoxicated north carolina's higher courts have affirmed on several occasions the notion that when compounded with other factors driving below the speed limit can amount to reasonable suspicion whether or not driving below the speed limit alone is sufficient to satisfy reasonable suspicion is still somewhat ambiguous in north carolina in the 2008 north carolina supreme court case of state versus styles the court suggested that driving below the speed limit may constitute reasonable suspicion by stating quote law enforcement may observe certain facts that would in the totality of the circumstances lead a reasonable officer to believe a driver is impaired such as weaving within the lane of travel or driving significantly slower than the speed limit however the north carolina court of appeals stated that driving below the speed limit cannot solely amount to reasonable suspicion in the unpublished 2010 case of state versus brown other states such as ohio have also concluded that slow driving does not create reasonable suspicion such as in the 2007 ohio circuit court of appeals case of state versus bachr given that mr perry was only traveling five miles per hour below the speed limit it is highly unlikely that his speed could serve as reasonable suspicion for a stop but as mentioned before the north carolina courts have rendered contradictory opinions on the matter and it is difficult to draw any conclusions well from mice deputy snell returned to his patrol car and left the scene without further incident following the encounter mr perry filed a formal complaint against the deputy and spoke with wral news about the incident something needs to happen i can't say what that is um all i ask is that if in fact there was something off about his stump at a minimum a training segment you know that would improve his ability to service the community the wral news team contacted the sampson county sheriff's office for a statement regarding the encounter and the department had this to say in regards to the law regarding stopping someone under the speed limit please keep in mind an officer only needs reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle and not probable cause the department also ensured wral and mr perry that it was reviewing the incident and intended to take the appropriate action should they deem it necessary overall deputy snell gets a c for exercising poor discretion by stopping mr perry issuing mr perry a formal warning for traveling below the speed limit and validating his stop with questionable logic and ambiguous statements while deputy snell's decision to stop mr perry appears illegal at face value the higher courts of north carolina have yet to set a precedent regarding reasonable suspicion and driving below the speed limit and north carolina's traffic code is somewhat vague within the context of this encounter deputy snell's reluctance to explain the citation to mr perry is moderately unreasonable considering that he took the time to write a formal warning instead of issuing a verbal warning which contradicts the deputy's excuse of having other things to do rather than explaining his decision if the deputy stop would be considered valid then it creates an environment where drivers are expected to drive exactly the speed limit at all times and discounts of variance in sensible factors such as discrepancies and speedometers and tire size the enigmatic statutes and case laws surrounding the interaction offer no legitimate conclusions on the validity of the stop but i do wonder whether deputy snell stops every elderly person he finds driving below the speed limit to make sure they are okay mr perry gets an a for maintaining a calm and collected demeanor throughout the encounter rightfully questioning deputy snell's probe into his personal life and following up this encounter with the proper legal action although mr perry did not verbally invoke his right to remain silent he said enough to end the deputy's questioning and did so in a respectful way it was reasonable for mr perry to feel as though he was being harassed or targeted and although the courts may or may not agree with the legality of deputy snell's stop mr perry's decision to file a formal complaint was warranted while it is highly unlikely that the sampson county sheriff's office will take action to address this encounter publicly it would be interesting to see how they viewed the stop and whether or not they corrected the deputy i commend mr perry for challenging deputy snell's logic and having the courage to follow up this interaction with a formal complaint let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic you would like us to cover in the comments below thank you for watching and don't forget to like and subscribe for more police interaction content [Music] you

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 1,843,803

Rating: 4.8863721 out of 5

Keywords: amagansett press, first amendment audit, 1st amendment audit, auditing america, news now california, sgv news first, high desert community watch, anselmo morales, photography is not a crime, san joaquin valley transparency, first amendment audit fail, walk of shame, news now houston, police fail, 1st amendment audit fail, public photography, auditor arrested, police brutality, highdesert community watch, pinac news, cops triggered, news now patrick, east hampton

Id: Gy8IUeyqDkA

Length: 13min 49sec (829 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 04 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/InfernosEnforcer]

I know if you go way too slow you can be pulled over for disrupting traffic but this is definetly excessive