imported post
You need to start looking at a 42 usc 1983 lawsuit for false arrest, improper search, seizure, etc...
They handcuffed me and my girlfriend and put us in different cars. They tactically cleared my vehicle, looking for other people I guess.
Illegal search and they should have known better. Arizona v Gant.
One of the officers comes to the car where I was and informs me that they got a call that somebody was shooting from a vehicle SIMILAR to mine.
Yeah, ok we'll see.
At that point I informed him that I was not shooting but that I did have a pistol in my vehicle.
You, sir, are a failure at this station. Go back and watch the "don't talk to cops" video and try again. Seriously, did that help you in any way? Did that do anything for you at all? Unless you had a CHL, you had no duty to inform.
I told him where the gun was, tucked back into a thin compartment under the cup holder.
You really should learn your rights and exercise them.
Its 3am, dark, and THEY DIDN'T SEE IT WHEN THEY CLEARED THE VEHICLE.
Irrelevant. You were traveling and they shouldn't have been searching the vehicle, period. You should beat the charge. That won't fix the larger issue of you saying things you shouldn't in police encounters.
I have now learned (through $1000 bail and 12 hours in jail) that its probably better to let them find the gun next time.
No, the lesson is shut your mouth and ask for a lawyer.
Oh, and to top it off, they towed my vehicle from the front of my house.
Yeah, that's an illegal seizure too. Miranda v City of Cornelius
http://www.metnews.com/articles/2005/mira111805.htm
Anyways, I'm a college kid working full time and can't afford a laywer.
Geez, already making excuses and playing the victim role...sheesh. Do they have a law department at your college? I presume that college requires reading and writing skills, so you should be able to take the case pro-se yourself. Some lawyers might take the case on contingency as well...of course that requires you to actually want to fight it.
Look at this guy segura, he's not a weakling, he's fight back PRO SE in an appeals court, no less.
http://openjurist.org/9/f3d/1553/segura-v-block
Hopefully they drop the charges and I get on down the road...although I would like my $135 back from the city.
Don't take this the wrong way, but you are very, very weak and you can't go through life being weak and hoping that everything is going to be ok. It isn't going to be ok, unless you MAKE it ok, there is no cavalry coming to rescue you. Hope is not a strategy, it is a city in Arkansas. The good news is that being weak is a temporary condition, not a permanent affliction. I'm not trying to be mean, just trying to condition you for the real world. You've got to be a big boy now and take care of yourself.
The victims reported that the shooters were 3 hispanic males in a WHITE EXPEDITION.
All good things to explore at trial if you don't get scared.
We even had a conversation about guns because my Bushmaster case (empty thank GOD) was left in the back seat and they didnt take it.
You talk too much to the wrong people. Have you figured out yet that the cops aren't your friends or do you need to spend more quality time in jail?
Seriously, you are going to sue them, right?