Nashville public intoxication and Brief Police Contact

Often people will say to me, "can the police just stop me when I am walking down the street" it is a funny question. How many times in someones life will the police ask them to stop while walking down the street. Well in some places a lot, and in other places never. However in this instance below lets assume this has to do with a Nashville public intoxication stop scenario.

In this instance lets say you are walking down West End around Vanderbilt. You are not disturbing anyone, you have been drinking, you are at least 21, it is late say around 1 a.m. A Vanderbilt police officer pulls up and ask you what you are doing? Can they do that, as with all of the 4th Amendment Nashville public intoxication questions, there are grey areas to this situation.http://nashvilleduiinfo.com

You have now found yourself in a Constitutional question, An officer may approach you at anytime, even if there is no suspicion of wrong doing. So if in the instant case above you are walking down West End in Nashville, Tennessee after drinking some alcoholic beverages the police can approach you and ask you questions, HOWEVER you have the freedom to not answer the questions, if there is no evidence of wrong doing by you, you are free to go. Your refusal to answer questions is not a reasonable ground to detain you, there has to be something more, there has to be reasonable, objective grounds for further detaining you. Nashville public intoxication requires certain elements be met before you can be charged with this crime, there are more elements than just being intoxicated and being in public.

Under the scenario you have the right to refuse to answer questions, a police officer is free to ask you questions anytime, he does not have to think you have committed a crime when he approaches you, he is free to approach you like a civilian would, but the 4th Amendment protection becomes applicable when a person does not feel free to leave. The Courts look at it from an objective standpoint, would a reasonable person feel free to leave. If a reasonable person would not feel free to leave, then it is a Seizure under the 4th Amendment, and all evidence gained could be suppressed for a 4th Amendment violation by the government.

As with all legal discussions of the 4th Amendment there is an exception to the above noted scenario, if the police believe that they have an inarticulable suspicion that crime is afoot and they suspect you are involved somehow they may perform what is known as a Terry Stop. This is a situation where they suspect you for something, say suspicious activity around a store that was broken into the night before. They can stop you, ask questions and pat you down for weapons, however this brief detention even with cause can turn into an arrest if they detain you to long, and later it is determined there was no reason to continue to detain you after their original suspicions were proven unfounded. Terry Stop cases are voluminous, this is just a small snippet of a Terry Stop.

Nashville DUI Lawyer, Nashville Criminal Lawyer, Criminal Lawyer, Criminal Law Firm, Criminal Attorney, Nashville DUI Attorney, Nashville Criminal Attorney, Daniel McMurtry