Police traffic stop brings up debate over civil rights
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A recent incident has sparked debate over individual civil rights during a traffic stop.
If a police officer orders you to get out of your car, do you have to comply?
The routine traffic stop in Rochester last month escalated when police smashed a man’s car window and pulled him to the pavement. Rochester police said the forced removal of Marvin Taylor during the May 7 incident was necessary because he refused to exit his vehicle when ordered to do so.
Taylor, a 22-year-old Black man, said he was hesitant to get out of his car because one of the officers had his gun drawn and police on scene wouldn’t tell him why they pulled him over.
Later, Taylor found out he was stopped for an expired inspection sticker and because he allegedly didn’t signal while making a turn.
So do you have to leave your car if police tell you to do so?
The answer – settled in a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court case known as Pennsylvania vs. Mimms – is yes.
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. This means that to initiate a traffic stop in New York, police officers must have probable cause.
In the 1977 case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police officers may order an individual out of their vehicle during a traffic stop because the person has already been lawfully detained – albeit briefly. The court ruled that the officers’ command would not violate the Fourth Amendment.
While police must have probable cause to initiate a traffic stop, in New York and most places across the U.S. there are no laws that require them to immediately tell you why you were pulled over.
Lawmakers in California, Connecticut and Minnesota are changing course, though.
In California and Minnesota, police must now provide reasoning for a traffic stop before they question drivers on any subject – unless there is an imminent threat present. In Connecticut, police have until the end of the interaction to tell a driver why they were stopped.
Lawmakers in all three states said they were pushing for changes to promote accountability in police patrols and limit “pretextual” stops, a technique where officers use minor infractions like a broken taillight as a gateway to search for evidence for unrelated crimes.