On 21 April 2021, a story on CNN (2021) stated that an African-American woman was grabbed by her and hauled out her car during a traffic stop in North Carolina. Stephanie Bottom, the victim of the incident, was driving on 30 May 2018 along the Interstate 85 from Georgia to North Carolina heading to her great aunt’s funeral (CNN, 2021). The speed limit of the zone she was driving was 70 miles per hour but Miss. Bottom was driving at 80 miles per hour. The police pulled her over but she got afraid and began to look for safe place to pull over (CNN, 2021). However, the police followed her with sirens and deployed a spike stripes that immediately immobilized. The police drew guns, used obscene words, and forced to lie down. They then proceeded to search her purse and car. On my opinion, the vehicle search was not justified. According to the Carroll doctrine, a vehicle can be searched if there is a probable cause to believe that it is carrying evidence. In addition, there should be an exigent circumstance(s) to believe that vehicle can be driven or clamped out the area before a warrant can be obtained. However, in this case, the police searched the purse of the driver and the vehicle without any probable cause (Carroll vs. United States, 1925). They were only concerned that the vehicle was 10 miles per hour over the speed limit and only needed to book a ticket for it. In addition, even if evidence shows that car was being removed from the scene before a warrant could be obtained, the police did not have probable cause to search it.
References
Carroll v. United States , 267 U.S. 132, 45 S. Ct. 280, 69 L. Ed. 543 (1925).
CNN. (2021). A Black woman was grabbed by her hair and pulled out of an SUV during a traffic
stop in North Carolina, lawsuit says . CNN. Retrieved 13 June 2021, from https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/28/us/police-excessive-force-lawsuit-north-carolina-trnd/index.html .
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