“Can you be an apparent law-abiding citizen, walking along a city street, and be arrested, essentially, for having a bulge in your pants? Yes, over in Richland, anyway.
That was the outcome of what happened to Dustin Warren Harrington around 11 p.m. Aug.13, 2005. Police Officer Scott Reiber thought Harrington looked suspicious walking through a neighborhood at night. He flipped a U-ey, and asked Harrington if they could talk.
As Reiber later explained somewhat confusingly in court, he “contact[ed]” Harrington because “[t]hat area, late at night, a gentleman walking – social contact. See what he was up to, just to talk.” Reiber asked Harrington where he was coming from. His sister’s house, said Harrington, but he didn’t know exactly where the house was. That made Reiber suspicious, and Harrington seemed nervous, according to court records. Reiber then noticed bulges in Harrington’s pockets. Reiber also thought it was suspicious that Harrington kept moving his hands in and out of them.
As a state trooper pulled up to assist, the Richland cop asked if he could pat down Harrington for officer safety, explaning he was not under arrest. Harrington agreed. Reiber then “felt a hard, cylindrical object in Harrington’s front right pocket,” according to the record. What’s this? asked the cop. “My glass,” said Harrington. “My meth pipe.” Immediately arrested, Harrington was also carrying a baggy of meth, found during the pat down.
Harrington was later convicted of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, and appealed, claiming the evidence was seized illegally. The cop, with the trooper backing him up, he said, effectively gestapo-ed him into turning over his incriminating goods. Today, the state Supreme Court unanimously agreed. “We conclude,” says Justice Richard Sanders, who authored today’s opinion, “the officers’ [cop and trooper] actions, when viewed cumulatively, impermissibly disturbed Harrington’s private affairs without authority of law and therefore constituted an unlawful seizure.” ”
Read more at Seattle Weekly
in my head, the hard cylindrical bulge was most definitely not a meth pipe!
what a pat down that wouldve been!
Oooh is that a meth pipe in your pants or are you just pleased to see me. Please make sure that when Derren tarts around London ‘LOST’ at 3am that he conceals no ominous magic wand in his pants. Just to be on the safe side.
I though this was going to be something a bit more interesting than a meth pipe…
What absolute bull. The police had grounds to search the chap as he was acting suspiciously, and as a result of that search found an illicit substance. Lawful search, the guy is guilty, end of. All this smoke and mirrors of being ‘lost looking for his sister’s’ is nothing but a pitiful excuse to circumvent the fact that he was commiting a crime. Man up and face up to the crime.
how absolutely ridiculous! I’m all for citizen’s rights etc. but this is just stupid.
i’m sure derren is well aware of how to wave that wand…
Hmmm…A scenario where a police officer pats you down, and feels a hard, cylindrical object in your pocket. Sounds like a porn movie I once watch…I mean, heard about.
Ahh! i expected a little more ey….@jojoe, Derren has the nerve to walk on stage with a banana in his pocket though, what if that cop was in the audience
His lawyer must be ‘really’ good. The argument holds no water.
Now if he’d said no to the search…
Harrington should have lied and said he was happy to see him