My question involves police conduct in the State of: New Mexico
In the summer of 2017 I went with my cousin to downtown Albuquerque at around 6pm to have some fun. We were each riding motorcycles (I on a Harley Road King and him on a Honda CBR) and we parked on Central which is one of the main roads downtown. We went and played pool and then went to a night club later on. Before we knew it it was around 2 am-3 am so we decided to head out. As we are heading back to our bikes we notice that there are metal barricades set up on different blocks (including Central) with no clear indication of the roads being closed. They had no road closed signs on them, small worn out deflectors that could only be seen if you were about 5 feet from them, and the barricades were around 4 ft high and 6 feet in length. As soon as we got to our bikes we noticed that the police closed off the road that we and other civilians were parked on. Since there was no signs or clear indication that the roads were closed and and there was enough room between the barricades for vehicles to get through we got on our bikes and headed to a parking lot that was about 100 yards away. The directions we took to get there was a right turn then a left which also had one of these unclear "road closed" barricades and enough room for vehicles to get through that also had other civilian vehicles trapped on it. As I turn into the parking lot a cop passes me and makes a U-turn and follows me into the parking lot stopping me. He said that I did not obey traffic control devices, I went in the wrong way into the parking lot, I smelled like alcohol (I was dipping Copenhagen Wintergreen the whole night, gutting it, and had some in my mouth at the time of the stop), my eyes were bloodshot red, and so I ended up going to jail and having around 10 charges filed against me. My cousin went the same route I did and was a little behind me and parked on the street that had the entrance to the parking lot I pulled into. The cop questioned my cousin and my cousin told him the same things I did. "What are we supposed to do when you cops trap us in with your barricades?" The cop said "The best thing to do is to wait." He got my cousins Driver's license and then let him go. I did not give up my identity, I did not submit to a field sobriety test, and I told him I am not answering anymore questions and to just take me to jail or let me go since I believe it was an unlawful stop. He had me spit out my tobacco (not rinse it out), searched my pockets, put me in the car, waited until the tow truck showed up to tow the bike, then took me to the downtown police station. Once we got there he took me out of the car, took me inside, he had me sit there and read me my rights then gave me the breathalyzer. From the point of being taken out of the car to giving me the breathalyzer took all about 10 minutes. According to my knowledge and research he did not follow the correct procedure prior to giving the breathalyzer (which includes checking the suspects mouth) or do the deprivation period which is 20 minutes in New Mexico. Might I also mention that I am not from Albuquerque. I was just visiting and wanted to go spend some time with my cousin who is completely straightedge. Also before putting me into the jail cell about 2-3 cops searched me and found around .5 grams of marijuana in my pocket that the first cop had previously searched at the scene. His first initial reason to stop me was that he was parked on 2nd and central, and saw me leave from central onto 3rd (Central between 2nd and 3rd was also blocked off and had plenty of obstacles in the way). He saw me from a block away through all of these obstacles.
Is it just me or is this setting people up?
In the summer of 2017 I went with my cousin to downtown Albuquerque at around 6pm to have some fun. We were each riding motorcycles (I on a Harley Road King and him on a Honda CBR) and we parked on Central which is one of the main roads downtown. We went and played pool and then went to a night club later on. Before we knew it it was around 2 am-3 am so we decided to head out. As we are heading back to our bikes we notice that there are metal barricades set up on different blocks (including Central) with no clear indication of the roads being closed. They had no road closed signs on them, small worn out deflectors that could only be seen if you were about 5 feet from them, and the barricades were around 4 ft high and 6 feet in length. As soon as we got to our bikes we noticed that the police closed off the road that we and other civilians were parked on. Since there was no signs or clear indication that the roads were closed and and there was enough room between the barricades for vehicles to get through we got on our bikes and headed to a parking lot that was about 100 yards away. The directions we took to get there was a right turn then a left which also had one of these unclear "road closed" barricades and enough room for vehicles to get through that also had other civilian vehicles trapped on it. As I turn into the parking lot a cop passes me and makes a U-turn and follows me into the parking lot stopping me. He said that I did not obey traffic control devices, I went in the wrong way into the parking lot, I smelled like alcohol (I was dipping Copenhagen Wintergreen the whole night, gutting it, and had some in my mouth at the time of the stop), my eyes were bloodshot red, and so I ended up going to jail and having around 10 charges filed against me. My cousin went the same route I did and was a little behind me and parked on the street that had the entrance to the parking lot I pulled into. The cop questioned my cousin and my cousin told him the same things I did. "What are we supposed to do when you cops trap us in with your barricades?" The cop said "The best thing to do is to wait." He got my cousins Driver's license and then let him go. I did not give up my identity, I did not submit to a field sobriety test, and I told him I am not answering anymore questions and to just take me to jail or let me go since I believe it was an unlawful stop. He had me spit out my tobacco (not rinse it out), searched my pockets, put me in the car, waited until the tow truck showed up to tow the bike, then took me to the downtown police station. Once we got there he took me out of the car, took me inside, he had me sit there and read me my rights then gave me the breathalyzer. From the point of being taken out of the car to giving me the breathalyzer took all about 10 minutes. According to my knowledge and research he did not follow the correct procedure prior to giving the breathalyzer (which includes checking the suspects mouth) or do the deprivation period which is 20 minutes in New Mexico. Might I also mention that I am not from Albuquerque. I was just visiting and wanted to go spend some time with my cousin who is completely straightedge. Also before putting me into the jail cell about 2-3 cops searched me and found around .5 grams of marijuana in my pocket that the first cop had previously searched at the scene. His first initial reason to stop me was that he was parked on 2nd and central, and saw me leave from central onto 3rd (Central between 2nd and 3rd was also blocked off and had plenty of obstacles in the way). He saw me from a block away through all of these obstacles.
Is it just me or is this setting people up?
Police Conduct: Police Setting Up Unclear Traffic Control Devices
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