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From the article: “In her letter to colleagues, Dr. Vest said she was pulled over on Alafaya Trail on Monday, August 9, at 9:00pm for a broken taillight, but the UCF police log from that day and time only shows a “drug-related” stop. It could be because Vest said she was questioned about her heart medication and searched.”

Assuming this is accurate (and I admit this is a big assumption), what right do the police have to search her for a simple traffic violation? In order to conduct a search after a routine traffic stop, the police have to have reasonable suspiscion of criminal activity based upon objective observations, such as the smell of alcohol, slurred speech, contraband that is in plain sight or smell, etc. Assuming the prescription medication was in plain sight, the cop had no reason do to anything other than read the prescription on the label and match the name with the people in the car. After that, the cop should have said, “Thank-you, here’s your ticket for the broken tail light, get that taken care of by the court date and I’ll ACD the charges.”

I’m a male WASP. I got pulled over in TN driving a new Lincoln LS with my son in a child seat. I used all my “Yes Sir” and “No Sir”s as appropriate.

Along the way, the State Policeman said “That child seat doesn’t look like it is as tight as it could be. Do you mind if I look in your car and fix it?”

I said “yes, sure.” He didn’t go to the booster but started looking under the seats and in the console, etc.

I asked what he was doing and he said “You said I could search your car!” - with an attitude.

I ended driving away with three tickets that day. Speeding, TV in view of driver, and improper restraint of my kid because the belt holding the seat was too loose.

The TV was a mini dvd player hooked on the passenger headrest with the seat pulled all the way up and “Winnie the Pooh” playing.

I doubt mine was a racial stop, nor was hers.

Assuming this is accurate (and I admit this is a big assumption), what right do the police have to search her for a simple traffic violation? In order to conduct a search after a routine traffic stop, the police have to have reasonable suspiscion of criminal activity based upon objective observations, such as the smell of alcohol, slurred speech, contraband that is in plain sight or smell, etc.

Many times they (the cops) will just ask to see if the person takes them up on their offer. Probably not the case here but it's amazing how often folks will consent to search just because the cop asked politely.