When You Should REFUSE to Exit Your Vehicle

you've probably seen news footage of officers ordering people out of their cars but did you know that there are times when you can refuse to get out of your vehicle i'm attorney andrew flushey and this channel is about defending your rights subscribe for a new video every tuesday one of my subscribers troy sent in a great question on this very issue in virginia when you get pulled over by the police they say you don't have to get out of the car then if the police officer asks you to get out of the car and you don't what happens i've asked police officers this question directly and they tell me you don't have to get out of the car if your ass so what's the answer first it is legal for officers to ask you out of the car in the first place the united states supreme court in pennsylvania versus mems ruled that the police officer once they've lawfully pulled you over can order you out of the car under the mem's ruling that is not a violation of your fourth amendment rights against illegal search and seizure the court held that exiting the vehicle once you've lawfully been pulled over is a minimal further intrusion on your liver the police have already lawfully decided that the driver shall be briefly detained the only question is whether he shall spend that period sitting in the driver's seat of his car or standing alongside it the court justified this intrusion in the name of officer safety they ruled that it's essentially safer for officers to ask you out of the vehicle and therefore it's okay for them to always ask you out anytime they please however there are situations where officers clearly don't want you out of the vehicle i've had many clients who voluntarily try to step out of the vehicle when they've been pulled over and officers order them to stay in the vehicle if exiting the vehicle enhances officer safety you'd think every traffic stop would entail the officer asking you to step out of the vehicle a dissenting justice on the mims decision correctly calls out this bs the court cannot seriously believe that the risk to the arresting officer is so universal that his safety is always a reasonable justification for ordering a driver out of his car so if it's not for officer safety why do the police really want you out of the vehicle in my experience there are three main reasons if there's any suspicion that you're impaired the officer usually says something like do you mind stepping out of the vehicle to do some quick tests to make sure you're okay to drive simply exiting the vehicle is a little mini field sobriety test all by itself did you use the vehicle for balance will you try to get out were you steady on your feet while you walked to where the officer directed you this is simply part of the beginning of the field sobriety test sequence what is your favorite color blue notes police routinely ask people to get out of the vehicle so they can run a canine around the vehicle looking for drugs or bombs or other contraband what i see happens quite often is an officer pulls you over for a minor traffic violation they have some suspicion that maybe there's drugs so they immediately call for a k-9 officer it just so happens that the k-9 officer arrives right at the time the ticket is ready the officer comes to the window and says would you mind sitting out of the vehicle to come sign the ticket separating you from other people is a basic interrogation technique the police may ask you to get out of the vehicle to separate you from your passengers or other occupants in the vehicle what i see routinely is the primary officer asks the driver to step out and takes you to the rear of the car to talk to you about whatever's going on while a backup officer may be asking similar or different questions of your passengers so if it's legal for the police to ask you out of the car but it's generally not done for officer safety reasons can you refuse to get out of the car well that depends upon if the officer asks you to get out of the car or do they order you to get out of the vehicle if the officer says would you mind stepping out to do some quick tests for me to make sure you're okay to drive you can politely say no thank you that was simply a request on the officer's part and you can decline that request but if the officer says sir please step out of the vehicle that's an order if you refuse that order there could be ramifications coming at you soon yes there's a subtle difference in the phrasing but it's an important difference now let's say you're mistaken and you think the officer is asking you to step out of the vehicle and you politely decline if he wants to order you out of the vehicle he will likely make that very clear if he wants to order you out of the vehicle he's going to repeat the order and he's going to make it clear that this is not a polite request and then you'll know that you do need to step out of the vehicle according to pennsylvania versus memphis let's look at a case study where both the driver and the officer face consequences for their actions now this example comes from virginia but the law is the same across the united states because this is a united states constitution issue back in 2019 derek thompson is stopped by the virginia state police for an expired state inspection sticker the initial trooper who pulls over mr thompson believes that she can smell marijuana coming from the vehicle so she orders him out of the vehicle presumably so she can search the vehicle for marijuana back in 2019 it was still illegal in virginia mr thompson refuses the order to exit the vehicle trooper hewitt shows up orders him several more times and then this happens officer mr thompson gets charged with obstruction of justice for refusing the police order to exit the vehicle after the state police conduct a use of force investigation no charges are filed against trooper hewitt mr thompson goes to court pleads guilty and is convicted of destruction of justice but during the 2020 summer of police riots against the police mr thompson shares his video and he files a civil rights lawsuit against trooper hewitt mr thompson reaches a settlement agreement for twenty thousand dollars in this lawsuit and the state police fire trooper q so how are both mr thompson and trooper hewitt at fault in this situation mr thompson was clearly and repeatedly ordered to get out of the vehicle and he repeatedly refused the police had to use force to get him out of the vehicle that's obstruction of justice guilty on the flip side trooper hewitt was clearly inappropriate and unprofessional and of course to comment about watch the show folks those comments are likely why trooper hewitt lost his job as a virginia state trooper there are two morals to the story here first if the police order you to get out of the vehicle you must comply or else you can face serious repercussions for that refusal if you're stopped by the police a recording of that encounter that you make could be vital evidence in court whether you need it to defend yourself or whether you need it to pursue some type of civil rights lawsuit this is one reason why i recommend that every car you own should have a dash cam running at all times to make sure you have the right dash cam check out this video where i talk about the three key features that will help you in court i'll see you over there

Channel: Andrew Flusche Attorney at Law

Views: 401,596

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Id: y8sHL6lTR58

Length: 6min 41sec (401 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 25 2022