When "Free to Go" Doesn't Really Mean You are Free to Go
What happens when a police officer tells you that you are free to go? What happens when a state trooper asks to search your car, but tells you that you are allowed to refuse permission for the search?
While it is difficult not to be nervous in such circumstances, remember that you are indeed free to go, and that you can actually refuse permission for the search without fear of additional repercussions. If you want to go, you should go. If you don't want the police to search your car, then don't give them permission.
The Pennsylvania Superior Court (the high court to which criminal convictions and decisions at the county level are appealed) recently issued an opinion affirming a trial court's decision throwing out evidence found when police officers stopped a motorist. In Commonwealth v. Moyer, the evidence was thrown out because, even though the police officer told Mr. Moyer he was free to go, the police officer's subsequent actions showed that Mr. Moyer was, in fact, not free to go:
Trooper Hertzog was standing beside Officer Mays at the rear of the car, and both were armed. At that point, [Mr. Moyer] was instructed that he was free to leave, but as [Mr. Moyer] reached the driver's door of his vehicle, Officer Mays called "his name out" and "asked if he mind[ed]" if the officer asked him a few questions. Officer Mays did not inform [Mr. Moyer] that he did not have to answer the questions.
Page 3 of the Court's decision.
Mr. Moyer] reasonably believed he was not free to disregard the police officer's request to answer questions and depart.
Page 18 of the Court's decision.
Certainly, if a police officer has good reason to believe that you committed a crime, or that your car contains evidence of a crime, he or she is entitled to arrest you or to seek a search warrant from a judge. But feel free to go if the trooper tells you that you are free to go.
