US Supreme Court says passenger can be frisked

[White Israelite]

This is a poor ruling.

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Monday that police officers have leeway to frisk a passenger in a car stopped for a traffic violation even if nothing indicates the passenger has committed a crime or is about to do so.

The court on Monday unanimously overruled an Arizona appeals court that threw out evidence found during such an encounter.

The case involved a 2002 pat-down search of an Eloy, Ariz., man by an Oro Valley police officer, who found a gun and marijuana.

The justices accepted Arizona's argument that traffic stops are inherently dangerous for police and that pat-downs are permissible when an officer has a reasonable suspicion that the passenger may be armed and dangerous.

The pat-down is allowed if the police "harbor reasonable suspicion that a person subjected to the frisk is armed, and therefore dangerous to the safety of the police and public," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said.

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The case is Arizona v. Johnson, 07-1122.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090126/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_pat_down;_ylt=AlA67WnN14PIUgD6KQBmlpVMEP0E

"...frisk a passenger in a car stopped for a traffic violation even if nothing indicates the passenger has committed a crime or is about to do so." = No real reason to think person has a weapon.


"...pat-downs are permissible when an officer has a reasonable suspicion that the passenger may be armed and dangerous." = Reason to think person has weapon.






Seriously, don't these seem to contradict each other?

[Daleksfearme]

It is sad but true that traffic stops have become much more dangerous for officers in the past years. Even people who do not have warrents can become irate when stoped for even a minor violation.  Officers do have the right to protect themselves.

[White Israelite]

It is sad but true that traffic stops have become much more dangerous for officers in the past years. Even people who do not have warrents can become irate when stoped for even a minor violation.  Officers do have the right to protect themselves.

Give the government an inch, they'll take a mile. I do not support this at all. There is a lot of corruption within law enforcement.