Last night, I went out for a ride with my friends to the store, I am crossing the light and take off my headlight(which goes on my head with a headband it came with) right in the middle of crossing the light because the store was right across it so I wouldn't blind anyone because my light is...mmm, 1200 Lumens. So a cop suddenly comes and stops us for "Not having a light" when I kept telling him that I had just turned it off and that I had it on and it worked better to have it on my rather than attaching it to the bike because I can light wherever I look. Anyway, he went on a whole rampage because I asked him why we had been stopped. At first, he told me he had stopped us because of the light... which I clearly had and was only holding it because of the reason I said earlier. Only one of my friends didn't have a front light at the moment. But as time passed, the cop started questioning us and being suspicious of us because a group of teenagers had been reported for tagging and they rode fixed gear bikes(fixies) like us. He kept saying he needed to search our backpacks... which I didn't really want, but he called for backup. Me and my other friend were the only ones out of 4 others carrying backpacks... so he checked his first but at the same time asked; "You got any porn in there"... all my friend had in there was a camera for his school project. Anyway, I didn't want him to check mine so I told the other cop to check it real quick. All I was carrying was tools and toilet paper(to be used as tissue). Anyway, he was nice and made a joke about how prepared I was. He wasn't really concerned about bus(He got called in as backup). He probably didn't even care. But the first cop was a total asshole. He would get in my face for asking why he needed to do all this. I just don't get how he went from stopping me for "not having a light" which I clearly did to "suspicious" for tagging. I did not tag. Anyway... did I have to go through all this? He said we were "detained", none of us were handcuffed nor got a ticket. Also, I am 17. And my friends are from 15-16 years old. I guess my real question is... Can I keep using my really bright light on my head rather than attaching it to my bike, and did the cop have the right to do all of what he did? The only thing I did wrong was for not having a helmet. But that wasn't why I was stopped. Anyway, please answer my question. Thank you in advance.
Answers (1)
we'll say that the law has someone stopped for any reason you are looked at as being detained and when you are detained it doesn't mean you have to have cuffs on they do as seen fit most of the time and when it has to do with backup it doesn't matter then either they get agitated by all the questions you should have a helmet then the light belongs on the bike but you don't want to obstruct traffic either but he had a right to put you through what ever he felt he needed to it comes a time when we think the law over steps its boundaries hence the fact he did what he did because you kept asking about all the questions so he got agitated with you and your group thats probably why he did what he done to detain you its right to be law abiding citizens and you get blamed for something some one else did tagging personal propertys that is agianst the law and he was trying to find out in a not so necessary way if it was you and your friends that did it