It’s unlikely you’ve ever met me, so I’m just some attorney writing a legal article to you and you don’t know much about me. You probably know that here at Setliff Law, we defend companies from lawsuits. You probably don’t know that before I came to Setliff, many years ago, I started out in law by hanging my own shingle. It takes guts and an eat-what-you-kill attitude to support yourself by word of mouth, and when you do that sort of thing, you aren’t too picky about the specific types of cases that walk in your door. You get too picky to make rent and the next thing you know you’ve got an awkward phone call with your parents about your sleeping arrangements.
What I’m trying to say is I’ve worn a lot of hats in the legal field, and ever since my wilder days, I sometimes get calls from people I previously represented for help with specific issues. Sometimes these are sweet and innocent, somebody wants help adopting their step-child, one couple asked if I’d like to adopt a puppy their dog had. Others, like this particular person, call me in the middle of an active arrest, a story which I present, for educational purposes, to you, The People.
It was a cold January day and I was sitting in my office when my phone rang. It wasn’t a number I recognized and the caller ID didn’t give me a name, so I just answered. The voice on the other end wasn’t one I recognized immediately, but I learned very quickly it was a person I had represented on a matter some years ago and they were sitting in their car in a parking lot. They were agitated and sounded anxious. I asked what I could do for them and they replied “The cops is lookin’ real hard at me…”
I didn’t really understand that. I asked him to explain – was this a metaphorical “looking at him” for a crime, or literally eyeballing him as he was sitting there? “Both.” Alright, well, that’s certainly a Tuesday morning. He described his situation to me as sitting in his car in a parking lot eating a Taco Bell breakfast meal (by the way, if you eat fast food breakfast, Taco Bell has the best one… now you can’t say you didn’t learn something) when an officer pulled into the parking lot, turned the lights on, exited his vehicle, and approached. He intimated to me that the officer signaled him to roll down the window, which he did, and asked who he was and for his license and registration. He provided it and then the officer began asking questions.
“Where were you the night of…. I don’t remember what night he said, but he wanted my whereabouts. Sounds like some place maybe got broke into. Said they got me on video.” Alright, how did they get you on video? “Well, not me, but my truck.” They stopped you in a parking lot because they think they recognized your truck from a video? “Yeah, he said it was a very distinctive truck. It’s a little beat up, I guess.” What kind of truck is it? “It’s a Tacoma.”
So you’re telling me this officer stopped you because you were sitting in a parking lot, eating a delicious Taco Bell Breakfast Burrito, because you have a… distinctive Toyota Tacoma? Naw, I’m not buying it. So I asked him if he was sure.
“Yep.”
Yeah, buddy, there’s nothing distinctive about a Tacoma. It’s the Corn Flakes of trucks. If I had to come up with three adjectives to describe your Tacoma and what makes it stand out, you’d forget them because you’d be on your phone while I was talking. So I asked him - what does this guy want?
“Well, he says there was a break-in… OH WAIT there’s three more cop cars just pulled up, what do I do?!”
At this point, I proceeded to give him some actual legal advice. They can absolutely ask you to step out of the car, that’s constitutional. They can ask for your license - you’re in a vehicle and are the only occupant, you’re clearly in a position to operate it. Same with the registration. But you do not have to say one single syllable about where you were on such-and-such date at whatever time, nor should you. Don’t say anything rude, just say you don’t want to discuss anything regarding that and won’t be answering any questions. If they press you on the issue, ask them whether you’re free to go. If they say no, ask whether you’re being detained. If they say you’re being detained, ask them under suspicion of what crime. Repeat those questions until you get satisfactory answers or are told you are free to go. Unless they had him on camera himself doing something (which he stated he did not do, so that was not possible according to him), even if they had the truck itself on camera, they were going to have a time showing that he was even in it. Just don’t volunteer information.
I ask him if he understands all this, and he responds “Yeah, but hang on, the cops are walkin’ over here.”
It was at this point that all hell broke loose.
There was a fair amount of shouting, but I gathered that they had asked him to step out and he refused. A brief bout of similar requests and then orders ensued, after which point the officers promptly extricated him from the vehicle. Don’t make them do that, just get out of the car. He left his phone on and dropped it in his seat, so I could hear most of what happened next. Out of respect for your delicate sensibilities, dear reader, I present the following audience-appropriate transcript of events, as best as I can recall:
“Please step out of the car, sir.”
“I don’t want to do that.”
“Sir, we are ordering you to step out of the car.”
“You can’t make me-hey, (*JQ#R(UFEWF W (*FWE WE W*E F(W*E F H EY )* @#(*@# &()W&YR)&@#)R &@)#&R)W#&R)@#&)@(*@#UR (@#*UR(UJW(E*F*U _(*UJ(*UR (*@U#R _*U@#R”
This carried on for several minutes until I finally got a call from another number. When I answered, it turned out it was his girlfriend. She worked at the Taco Bell and apparently had been watching all of this happen outside her workplace on the sidewalk. Apparently, though he decided to comply with being handcuffed, he did so as loudly and obnoxiously as possible and probably made the situation much worse for himself. Instead of remaining silent, he decided to say a few choice phrases to the police officers which probably earned him some extra time in the cuffs. He was ultimately released and was not charged. Turns out the officers thought they could get him to give up some information if they had a conversation with him, and he held firm and didn’t offer any.
Honestly, I’ll never know what the truth of the story is. Did he steal something from this place I never got the name of on a date I can’t remember? Was it his truck in the camera footage? Was there any camera footage? Was he driving the world’s only distinct, recognizable Toyota Tacoma? I can’t know the answers to those questions. What I do know, however, is that he kept his mouth… well, not shut. He said a lot. He probably should have said a lot less. But he didn’t volunteer any information about that day or about his knowledge or lack thereof of that particular building, and that’s what’s important. So I guess if there’s a lesson to be learned here, it’s don’t volunteer information unless you’ve been the victim of a crime or are otherwise seeking emergency services. Other than that, keep your mouth shut.
If you have questions about this specific article, contact Christopher Adams (cadams@setlifflaw.com) at (804) 377-1273, or for more general questions, contact either Christopher Adams or Steve Setliff (ssetliff@setlifflaw.com) at (804) 377-1261.
© 2024 Setliff Law, P.C.| View Our Disclaimer | Privacy Policy