imported post
Yes, and after specifically stating that I was not resisting, but neither was I consenting to a search. These are usually pretext stops, where they try to elevate a specious traffic stop into a felony complaint of some kind - usually "war on drugs" stuff. They usually hair-split at that point, claiming that they can do a pat down and that it is different from a "search" as such, although I had a cop pull out an ibuprofen bottle to see what drugs I had after such a pat-down. Hardly a safety issue even if it would have turned out that I had contraband. A pill bottle is plainly not a weapon.
On another similar occasion, a cop complained that he thought I had a crack pipe in my pocket. I actually consented to let him check on this one occasion after getting tired of denying it. It was a ball-point pen, and I had told him so, but he remained unconvinced, even after he examined it. He took it apart and was even smelling the damned thing. They must have James Bond-type dual purpose pen/crack pipes. I wouldn't know.
-ljp
