Walk It Through: The Stop on the Two Lane
Lights behind on a state highway, a license on a phone, an insurance card, and a question about the trunk.
A highway patrol car's lights come on behind a pickup on a two lane state highway.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
A highway stop for a moving violation that ends in a warning. A DUI investigation, a gun in the cab, and a search on probable cause are left to other walkthroughs.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Particularized suspicionThe standard for a stop: circumstances that create a particularized suspicion that the person has committed, is committing or is about to commit an offense.
- FelonyAn offense whose sentence is death or imprisonment in a state prison for more than 1 year.
- Fleeing or eludingWhen a uniformed officer in a police vehicle signals to stop, knowingly refusing to stop, speeding up, keeping going 10 or more miles an hour over the limit, turning off the lights, or otherwise trying to get away.
- MisdemeanorAn offense punished by county jail, a fine, or both, or by state prison for 1 year or less.
- Reckless drivingOperating a vehicle in willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property, including while passing a stopped school bus showing its flashing red signal.
- FriskA search of a stopped person for weapons, allowed only with reasonable cause to suspect the person is armed and presently dangerous.