Were my civil right violated?

Question

I was reported for spanking my 4 year old son. The police arrived to the place we were at as we were leaving. He did not turn on his lights or in any way ask me to stop. I, being a courteous driver waited for him to pass so I could leave. He parked his cruiser where I could not go anywhere. At this time I knew he was there for me, even though he still had done nothing to show this was so. (i.e  turn on lights, wave for me to wait, etc.) I set my vehicle in park set my hands on the wheel and waited for him to approach my vehicle.
He immediately asked me to step out of the vehicle. I asked what i had done? he refused to answer and forcefully told me to "get out of the vehicle now!" He did not want my 4 year old to hear our conversation. I again asked why and what was going on and was I being charged with something.. He said "yes" i was being charged with something" and threaten to arrest me for failure to co-operate and impeding an officer if I did not step out of the vehicle. 
I turned my car off and put my keys in my pocket. (At this time I was upset that he refused me my rights to know what I was being charged with and slowed my co-operation.) 
He proceeded to question me about what was going on. 
By this time I knew someone had seen me spank my son and reported a child abuse case. it was the only logical explanation. 
He asked me if I spanked my son. I told him darn right i did. He asked me why. I explained that he had released the hook on my camera equipment case spilling my camera and lenses onto the concrete. (An action that could have been damaging and extremely costly). He asked me how did I spank the child. I told him I spanked him 3 swats to the bottom. He asked me a second time, how did i spank the child. I told "again" 3 swats to the bottom. 
He began questioning me about drugs, driving history, arrest record and other things, still not voicing what i was being charged with.
He then asked me to step over to his cruiser, at which point he went to talk with my 4 year old son.....alone... (i'm not positive but isn't there supposed to be a child welfare worker or another adult present when interrogating an minor?) and he did not have my permission to question the child. 
While questioning my son he saw that I had a pocket knife in my door caddy. He asked why i had the knife and began to question me about drugs weapons and other illegal substances.. I told him i did not give him permission to search my car, he informed me "he did not need my permission to search my car"... 
At this point I was tired of being interrogated and had enough of trying to keep my civil rights. As I was doing nothing wrong and had no reason to not co-operate, I then told him to "just search the stupid car, I was hiding nothing, just get it done with". 
Another officer had joined the scene during the beginning but had said and done nothing but watch. When the original officer took my license to check my record the other officer (a very nice gentlemen actually) asked me what was going on and why the original officer was ticketing me. (((( HELLO))))    I replied to the 2nd officer that i did not know, and then it occurred to me the only thing he possibly could ticket me for was failure to have my child in a car seat. 
The original officer issued the ticket and told me I was 'free to go'... but would have to walk home and get a car seat, I was not allowed to drive. 

Here's my question: were my rights violated when the officer asked me to step out of the car and detained me without telling me why?
and were my sons rights violated when he was interrogated without another adult present? (and without my consent). 
and: were my rights violated when the officer looked in my door and found the pocket knife? (would this be searching without permission or probable cause?)

ace82 · Accepted Answer

Any stop is a constitutional issue. However, whether he probably cause to stop you is the issue at hand. Probably cause is an extremely relaxed burden of proof for law enforcement. An anonymous call maybe all that is need to establish probably cause. Driving irrationally, or even the officer personally witnessed you starting the car without a car seat could also be probably cause. If the pocket knife was in plain sight than this wouldn't equate to an illegal search. Here is the thing though, he didn't arrest you or ticket you for the knife. What would be your grounds to sue. What is the ticket considered in your state a criminal misdemeanor or traffic infraction. You weren't arrested, so your losses are at minimum. Now was it nesscary to pull you out the car in front of your child; probably not. You can always file a complain with that officers command or a conduct review board. Again you can sue for anything, the real question is what were your damages. A non criminal traffic  infraction is not that harmful to you for any meaningful recovery. Speak to a local attorney anyway.

boneheaderss · Answer

An officer can search a car with probable cause. Homes are different places than cars- an officier would need a search warrant for a house, but not a vehicle.

Not having a car seat makes your question less credible. I am greatly concerned about your child's safety in the car. I am concerned because car crashes are the leading cause of both disability and death for children under the age of 12 in the United States. Children who die in these car crashes were not properly restrained or who were not using a car seat.

http://www.boosttil8.org/   The video is about a child named Kyle who was 8 year olds at the time of a crash. He is now paralyzed from the neck down for the rest of his life because his seat belt was improperly positioned on his body. Something so simple as using a booster seat could have been prevented his terrible disability.

I would recommend the Evenflo Big Kid highback booster and costs $30 at Walmart. It recieved a "best bet" rating by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for correcting seat belt fit.

Most 4 year olds are not ready to use a booster seat because they are too young; they don't understand that sitting still is important. If this is the case, then your child should ride in a harnessed car seat instead. When forward facing, the harness straps must be positioned at or slightly above the child's shoulders, so get a car seat with tall top slots such as the Evenflo SecureKid 300 or 400 model. This car seat has 18" top slots and a 65 lb weight limit and costs anywhere from $100-$120 at Walmart.

louetta · Answer

The technical reply to this question is no. Your son didn't have his civil liberties violated in any respect. Schools are constructed on exclusive property, and as students are minors, they have no rights whatever at the same time they are on the campus. The institution has a proper to search any pupil's auto, backpack, locker, or some thing else they wish to appear at. Many colleges additionally get scholars on "difficult authority", which can also be stated in virtually any trouble. While that is proper however, it is viable your son has been wrongfully accused. Whether or not or not it matters, nevertheless, is an extra query. Faculties not often spend any time looking into whether or not they made a right assumption on punishing a pupil. Ethically and just about, your son quite in all probability had his common rights violated. Regardless of this, nevertheless, he did not technically have any of his rights violated due to the specified reputation of tuition property and authority over its pupils. Sadly there isn't much to be accomplished other than try and reason with the institution's administration.

Rick B · Answer

First of all, why isn't a 4 year old in a child safety seat?!?!??

No, your rights were not violated.  An officer can question you if he suspects you are doing (or have done) something illegal.  He does not have to "tell you why he is arresting you" since he was not arresting you.  Of course he can ask you to step out of your vehicle and he can question your child, if he felt the child was in danger.

Someone called and probably said you were "beating" your child.  You have a knife in plain view when the officer opens your car door.  You have. 4 year old flopping around without a car seat.  And, you are going off about your civil rights.  The officer handled it perfectly.

An officer is not required to tell you why he is questioning you.  Not sure why you think that.

No, I would not call the police.  I believe that spanking is appropriate in most cases.

Using the word "retarded" as you did shows your level of intelligence.  My teenage nieces and nephews did that until we pointed out how inappropriate it was.

No, an officer does NOT have to explain his reasons for stopping you.  As almost every other poster has indicated.  If you are so certain of that, then why did you come on here and ask the question?????

FYI, I am s,art enough to use proper child safety seats and boosters for my kids.

Maggie · Answer

I'd say yes but now a days it's so tricky. Especially since disciplining a child is now called abuse. I agree that the officer should not have questioned your child alone. Try getting a hold of the nicer cop and see if he could tell you anything.

No B.S. · Answer

Unfortunately we now live in a society where the only people with any rights at all are the ones who sheepishly do what they are told by their Lord and Master Zerobama.

It's going to get worse.

Any time a police officer questions you say four words and nothing else;
I want my lawyer.

The questioning then legally has to stop.

? · Answer

Actually, you DON'T have the right to be told "why I am being detained" prior to getting out of the car.

If your child is under certain age/height/weight restrictions he is required to be in a child seat, and it is YOUR legal obligation to make sure the child stays in the car seat.

FYI - Spanking will work to make sure they stay in their child seat (stop the car and repeat the spanking as necessary).

FYI Also - I would not have reported you for spanking your child.

Star is a chick · Answer

If your child does survive a crash, he will likely end up with severe, quite possibly permanent injuries. He DOES NOT fit the seat belt. See here... http://carseatblog.com/3966/the-5-step-test/

wizjp · Answer

Looks like good stop to me.

hottie · Answer

yes. but what can you do?

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Were my civil right violated?

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