Walk It Through: Pulled Over In South Carolina
The blue light, the license, the insurance on a phone, and the search question.
Blue lights come on behind the car on a dark two lane road with no shoulder.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
An ordinary stop for a traffic violation. A stop for impaired driving, a checkpoint, a frisk, and the rules when a passenger or a weapon is involved are not worked through here.
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.
- Law enforcement officerFor the resisting arrest article, any duly appointed or commissioned officer of the state, a county or a municipality.
- Mobile electronic deviceA cellular telephone, portable computer, GPS receiver, electronic game or similar device used to communicate, display or record digital content, which a driver may not hold or support while driving on a public highway.
- PreceptThe document an arrest is made under. An officer may not neglect, on request, to show it to the person arrested or someone acting for them.
- Proof of financial responsibilityEvidence of insurance the owner keeps in the vehicle and displays on an officer's demand, which may be shown on a mobile device in the insurer's format.
- Search warrantA judicial officer's written order, issued on a sworn affidavit, identifying property and naming or describing the person or place to be searched, which must be executed and returned within ten days after it is dated.
- Great bodily injuryBodily injury that creates a substantial risk of death, or causes serious, permanent disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member or organ.
- High-speed pursuitA pursuit the fleeing section defines, leading which, after failing to stop for a law enforcement vehicle's siren or lights, is a felony under that section.
- Resisting arrestKnowingly and wilfully opposing or resisting an officer serving process, or resisting an arrest by someone the person knows or reasonably should know is an officer.