Marshall, TX asked in Criminal Law and Personal Injury for Texas

Q: Pulled over for dim tag light. Detained 3 hours, drug dog brought, searched after not consenting, found nothing.

Officer parked across a small 2 lane road from a hotel. Was never once farther than 20' away, much less 50' (visibility law in Texas). We were pulled over immediately after leaving the hotel to get food .5 miles away.

Officer immediately asked if he could search. I asked why we were pulled over. Tag light too dim to be read from 50 feet away. I asked if that was a warning or ticket and said search seems unreasonable for a dim tag light. He said he needed to search because we were in a "high drug use area".

I told him I didn't consent to a search because of a dim light. He detained us for 3.5 hours, called in a drug dog and 4 more deputies. Said dog hit on 4 sides of the vehicle so they had reason to search. They found nothing. Do I have recourse as this is about the 15th time in 3 months I've been pulled over for stupid things and detained AND they find nothing. I have no criminal history either.

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1 Lawyer Answer

A: No, you do not have any recourse under the facts described.

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