Even if you have nothing to hide, you probably don’t want a police officer rifling through your vehicle following a traffic stop. But if you are stopped for a suspected DWI, can police legally search your vehicle to help their case or possibly find evidence of another crime? We explain if police can legally search your vehicle after a DWI stop in today’s blog.
Searching Your Vehicle During DWI Stop
Police can’t just force you out of your vehicle and start looking all over in hopes of discovering evidence that can be used against you in court. You have certain rights and protections – mainly your Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures – that protect you in these situations. Police can only search your vehicle if certain conditions are met, and some of them are more likely to come into play during a DWI stop compared to a standard traffic stop for speeding or rolling a stop sign.
Police can search your vehicle if:
Given Permission – If you give police consent to search your vehicle, they can look through it as they please. Don’t fall for the “If you have nothing to hide, just let me search it” line. You are protected against warrantless searches, so just say that you’ll consent to a search if the officer can produce a valid warrant, otherwise you’ll exercise your 4th Amendment rights.
They Have A Warrant – It’s unlikely that police will be able to secure a warrant during a traffic stop, as they can only hold you for a reasonable amount of time, but it’s not impossible. If they have a valid warrant to conduct a specific vehicle search, they are allowed to do so.
Evidence In Plain View – If the officer can see drug paraphernalia or other evidence of criminal behavior in plain view while talking with the driver, they can legally move forward with a vehicle search.
Prior To An Arrest – If you are going to be arrested and charged with DWI, police are allowed to search the immediate vicinity of the vehicle to make sure there are no dangerous weapons or evidence they need to collect. This doesn’t usually give them free reign to search the entire vehicle, but anything in the main cabin or even underneath seats would likely be considered discovered during a legal search incident to an arrest.
If Your Vehicle Needs Towing – Finally, if you are arrested for DWI and your vehicle is going to be towed, police will search through it as part of an inventory log. This helps to record the items in your vehicle at the time of your arrest to ensure nothing goes missing, but if it leads to the discovery of drugs, weapons or other criminal devices, it can lead to additional charges.
Don’t give police consent to search your vehicle, but know that they might not need it if you end up being arrested for driving under the influence in Minnesota. Police have more liberties to conduct a search if you’re going to be arrested or the vehicle is going to be towed, so don’t travel with items that could lead to additional charges, especially if you’ve had a few drinks.
As always, connect with Avery and the team at Appelman Law Firm if you need help defending yourself against a DWI charge or you believe officers conducted an illegal search. Give our team a call today at (952) 224-2277.
