Is it legal for an officer to say that I looked guilty when being pulled over?
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Is it legal for an officer to say that I looked guilty when being pulled over?
I was pulled over for speeding recently. I was not going excessively faster than
speed limit but just trying to go with the speed of traffic ahead of me. I saw a
cop next to me but I was not worried because my speed wasn’t excessive as I
have said. I was pulled over by a cop who told me that when I looked over at
him, my face looked guilty so he pulled me over and will be giving me a
speeding ticket because he determined I was going over the speed limit. My
question then is would there be any case against this biased reaction.
Asked on July 27, 2018 under General Practice, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
You say you were "not going excessively faster" and that you were "go[ing] with the speed of traffic"--were you going over the speed limit or not? If you were speeding, the stop and ticket were legal. It does not matter why he pulled you over as opposed to another driver--a guilty look, or the type or color of car you were driving (sports cars and red cars are pulled over more frequently); the police cannot pull over everyone (there are too many speeders), so they pull over some speeders that catch their eye), and the reason why they pull over car A and not car B is not relevant. So long as A was speeding, the stop was valid. (There is no right to speed to keep up with traffic, by the way.)
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