I was giving my son's prom date a ride home from an after prom party at 5am and was targeted by a cop right outside our sub for "rolling through" a stop sign at the end of our street. He had broken up the party around 3 am that the kids had been attending at a neighbors. My son had been breathalized and had not been drinking but had gone home and was sleeping. When the cop pulled me over he said he smelled alcohol in the car and made me get out to perform a field sobriety test. I told him to just breathalize me and I blew a 0.00. He then said he would take the 17 year old out of the car and submit her to the test. I said I wanted to stay with her. He would not let me. After she blew a .02 he put her in his patrol car and called her parents. I said I wanted to stay with her until they arrived. She had told me she was very scared and was in tears before they made her get out of my car. He told me I could not sit with her and that I should go home. I asked if he was saying I could not sit with her because he did not WANT me to or because LEGALLY I could not. He told me I just needed to go home and insisted I do that right away. The officers ended up questioning the minor about the party and used the information in a report against the host of the party.
My question is: Did I have a LEGAL right, as the adult in charge of the minor, to stay with her until her parents arrived? I know the cops wanted desperatly to get her alone to question her about the party (that's why they were set up outside the sub and pulling people over. They had pulled my husband over 10 min before me for "rolling through" the stop sign too, but let him go immediately because he was alone.)
My question is: Did I have a LEGAL right, as the adult in charge of the minor, to stay with her until her parents arrived? I know the cops wanted desperatly to get her alone to question her about the party (that's why they were set up outside the sub and pulling people over. They had pulled my husband over 10 min before me for "rolling through" the stop sign too, but let him go immediately because he was alone.)