Quote:
Quote by: Chaossaber314  You understand that running from a cop who attempts to pull you over can also be labeled as resisting arrest, right? The cop hasn't even been able to get out of his car at that point in that case. |
Wrong, running from the cops is evasion, not resisting arrest.
Quote:
|
By your logic, is the cop placing you under arrest once he attempts to pull you over?
|
No, a traffic stop is a detention. There are 4 steps of arrest. The contact, the detention, search and seizure, and the arrest. In a normal traffic encounter you have skipped to detention where you're not under arrest, but you're not free to go either.
During the contact, the cop has a suspicion, and cannot detain you in any way, you are free to leave. When you're at the detention stage, the cop has to have a Reasonable Articulable Suspicion, you can't leave, but you're not under arrest. The reason for a cop to detain you is to find probable cause to arrest you (or get a warrant for search and seizer, to get enough PC to arrest you). In a traffic situation you've been detained. If the cop doesn't have RAS, the detention is unlawful.