Arrest, Search, Seizure, Warrant Illegal Search & Seizure?

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unicorn5

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this is a complicated situation...
my boyfriend and i were at a restaurant. he pulled the car around to the front and went to move it up a little and either he hit another car or the other car hit him. Damage was minimal but the girl started freaking out because "mommy and daddy" just bought her that car. So she calls the cops. The girl right away says "HE'S BEEN DRINKING!" about my boyfriend. They give him a sobriety test, which he fails. Then they handcuff him and put him in the back of a police car. Next thing i know, I'm getting handcuffed and put in the back of a police car (they gave me no reason as to why). Then, the cops search my car without asking my permission. Did they have probable cause just because my boyfriend didn't pass a sobriety test? In their search, they found an open container (we were taking it to his sister's house) and they found my pipe and some seeds. Upon asking me, i said i wanted to talk to a lawyer. My boyfriend said it was his but provided no more information. At the police station he tested a 0.08% (legal limit) on the breathalyzer but they still gave him a DUI ticket and me a DUI/allowing ticket. They also gave him a ticket for the pipe and the seeds. Now, if they didn't even ask my permission to search the car, is that an illegal search? Also, should we have gotten DUI tickets if he was at the legal limit? They didn't even give me a breathalyzer test to prove that i wasn't drunk! Even the manager of the restaurant came out and said that my boyfriend only had ONE drink! And the officers didn't even bother to take accident information from us, only the other people! Was this whole situation messed up? Are there tons of errors here?
 
Okay, firstly, one drink is really all it takes to test 0.8 and in most states now 0.8 begins over the legal limit. It is no longer 1.0 as it used to be. The likely placed you in handcuffs and put you in the car because they were conducting an investigation and they were merely detaining you until the investigation was over.

Now here comes the important part that you may or may not have left out. When you say that the cops didn't have your consent, can you please tell us where exactly they found the pipe with the seeds. The open container was obviously in plain sight. The cops can look around the inside of your car if everything is visible to the eye and the door was left open. The cannot open glove boxes, the trunk, armrests, or anything else that is closed (they cannot dig around), unless you give them permission to do so. If the door was left open after the accident and your pipe was left out and visible to the eye, they can confiscate it and charge you with it. By the way, whose name was the car under? As for this DWI/ allowing ticket, I've never heard of such a thing if you were left in the restaurant while he was in the car. Most cops charge you with the most so that you'll hire a lawyer and get it reduced to something smaller. It's all about money, believe me. They will very likely drop your charge. Answer some of my questions about and let me know. Also, when the cops arrived on the scene, where EXACTLY were you and where EXACTLY was you boyfriend?
 
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The pipe was in a pouch inside the little cubby-hole in the dashboard. It wasn't like the pipe itself was laying out in plain sight because it was in a pouch. So basically it was not visible to the eye. The seeds were in a medicine bottle either in the glove box or in the armrest. I don't remember whether the door was left open or not. the car is insured and registered under my name. But you see, in New Jersey, if the vehicle owner's BAL is 0.08% or over and they let someone who is legally drunk drive, they get in trouble....but the cops never had me take a breathalyzer test. After the accident, i was outside of the restaurant trying to talk to the girl who was driving the other car. My boyfriend was talking to her boyfriend. I was trying to exchange insurance information and then she was like "I called the cops" (which was totally unnecessary). Had she not called the cops, everything could have been resolved with no problems.
 
well, if you look at it from another perspective you will say: had I not let my drunk boyfriend drive...

You are right, in some states it is a crime to allow a person who is drunk to drive your car, regardless of your own intoxication. So if that is the case in NJ, you would be rightfully charged, if you should have known that your boyfriend was intoxicated.

The question of intoxication is another matter, there is the so called "legal limit", but all that does is make a presumption that someone is intoxicated and therefore deemed unable to drive, even if he doesn't show any signs. Now, if someone is intoxicated and does show signs, for example, causes an accident, this can be enough for a charge even if the level is below what is called the legal level. The reasoning here is that because of the accident it is evident that the person was unable to drive due to his intoxication.

Now to the search, there is something called "search incident to arrest." If someone is being lawfully arrested, as was your boyfriend here, the police officers have the right to search the car he was driving in. You can read about this here kn the first chapter of this article, concerning "Belton": http://www.fletc.gov/legal/qr_articles/SIAOFATRUNKLESSVEHICLE.pdf

As you can see the right includes searching closed containers in the passenger compartment.
 
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