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Old April 21, 2009, 11:33 PM   #25
Michael Anthony
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Join Date: April 28, 2007
Posts: 83
This is the other side of a topic being discussed in another thread.

The way you described the incident, I believe the officer secured a firearm that was in your immediate control. Officers are allowed more leeway when taking action for the purpose of officer safety.

If your Fourth Amendment rights were violated in the process, the only caveat to the officer's actions would be that any evidence of a crime found might become inadmissible in court. However, there is a chance that if they "officer safety" steps taken were legal or supported by case law, then evidence found as a result may be admissible.

The Supreme Court has allowed evidence before that was obtained while ensuring officer safety, so long as the actions taken are reasonable.

All in all, there was nothing wrong with what you described. The other thread though describes a lengthy search and seizure for the purposes of investigating possible criminal activity. That is different, and illegal if here is no probable cause. This officer just took a reasonable step to remove at least one possible way of getting killed on a traffic stop.
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