Passenger in vehicle arrest

I was a passenger of a vehicle that got pulled over for speeding. The cop was sitting on the side of the road and didn't pull us over until after we were at a stop light and when green started to go. He stated at first that he clocked her going 44mph in 35mph zone. He then started chatting with the driver about the tires on her car. He asked for her license and then asked me for identification. I handed him my license and he asked me to take off my sunglasses. When he came back to the car, he asked the driver if she was "on anything", she said "no" and then he looked at me and said "at first I thought you were but looking at her (me), I am gonna ask you (me) to step out of the car. As I was getting out of the car, he asked the driver "how much weight she had on her" refering to a pending case she had for possession for sale. She answered with "my attorney told me not to discuss my case with anyone" and then said she was giving him a call. He badgered me and badgered me about the last time I had used to which I kept replying that I hadn't and I explained that my minor teen son had just been dropped off at the hospital for a stomach test that was to last 2 hrs, and my husband at home at recently been diagnosed with heart failure and I was just trying to get back to check on him and then return back to the hospital to my son. I had alot going on in my life, and just really didn't need this hassle. He said if I was honest with him about the last time I used, he wouldn't take me to jail.He just kept on me and repeating that I wouldn't go to jail if I was honest. Finally after a good 20 minutes of him giving some field sobriety tests as well as taking my pulse, I admitted to using that morning. He then placed me under arrest for being under the influence and then searched my purse and I got an additional charge of drug paraphanelia. He asked to search the vehicle and the driver refused and the officer only searched where I was sitting and then my purse. He questioned why she was against him searching and accepted whatever answer she gave and when he handed her the speeding ticket which states he paced her at 40 mph,(an impossibily from where he was parked to where we were pulled over and considering that we had stopped at a traffic light with cars in front of us) apologized for having to give her the ticket but that he had to, to coincide with my arrest. His ending statement was "try to pick yourself some better friends", and she was free to go. My question is was there enough probable cause for him to pull me out of the car and badger me to confess to his suspicions and if she fights the ticket and wins, would my arrest still be valid? (If the traffic stop was no good, and its thrown out as if it didn't happen, then my arrest wouldn't have happened either)? I'm in California by the way.

Even if your friend is found not guilty of speeding the officer still would be found to have probable cause to pull you over. No getting out of that.

http://www.legalmatch.com/law-librar...al-arrest.html

As for the search read this:

http://www.legalmatch.com/law-librar...a-warrant.html

Your best bet is to discuss the situation with an attorney who can advise you as to all aspects of the case.

This is also a good article.

http://www.legalmatch.com/law-librar...iolations.html

Thanks for your input Legaleagle, I think. (hehehehe) But what would be his probable cause to pull her over if she wasn't speeding? He couldn't have used radar, as we came from behind where he was parked and when she saw him, she automatically looked at her speed and was right at the speed limit. It then took him a minute to get his car started and actually get going and was probably speeding himself, just to catch up to where we were behind 2 other vehicles, at a traffic light. That is why he didn't pull her over until right when we went through the intersection. So as he stated on the ticket, he couldn't have paced us either at 44 (originally stated what he "clocked" her at) or 40mph (speed on the ticket issued) Speed limit was 35. If the judge understands this as I have stated it, would he still have a right to pull her over for no real violation, and if not, then she gets out of speeding ticket, but then wouldn't anything that happened as a result of the stop be omitted then too since he had no probable cause? All in all, when he first came up to her window, he was chatting it up with her about he tires, as he apparently has a similar car (Camaro) and they had chatted about their cars once before. I personally think that he was just wanting to talk to her and it wasn't until after getting her DL and mine too, and went back to call them in, that he found that she had a pending drug case, and I don't know if due to maybe liking her, or maybe I looked like his mama, since when I was in the car with him, he told me that his mama was a drug addict, and thankfully his father raised him. I had no idea then nor now, why he even divulged this info to me, and I thought then, "Oh great, I remind him of his mama, that's why he picked on me". And just because someone may be under the influence, doesn't necessarily make them an addict. This was something I hadn't done in a while, and the paraphanellia was actually the drivers that I had in my purse. No, I didn't tell him that, but... I really hadn't done anything to give him probable cause to suspect criminal activity, such as the examples in the readings, like bending and putting something under the seat. Furthermore, I had never been arrested before. Not even a speeding ticket! But like you said, I guess I need to find an attorney that can tell me what is what. Thanks again for your answer. By the way, are you in the legal field? I see your posts a lot and just wondered. Peace

If the officer believed your friend to be speeding this is probable cause to pull you over even if you or your friend don't think you were speeding. Remember that your testimony will probably hold no weight as you were under the influence. Does not really matter if he was mistaken as to the exact speed. Speeding is going even 1 mile over the speed limit. Speed limit means that is the maximum speed you can go. Say your friends speedometer is off just 1 mile and she was actually going 36 in a 35...this is a violation.

Take this opportunity to clean up for your kid.

Yes, I am an attorney.

[FONT=Century Gothic] Thanks for the answer, I appreciate it. And to the cleaning up part, already done.
Peace[/font]