Q: Can a police officer question you with no probable cause?
My boyfriend and I were walking to the bus stop, as we both were checking the bus schedule and look up. There was a police officer, who pulls over to ask us if we are both waiting for the bus, we both say yes we are picking up our son, the officer is asking questions, he asked for our ID's as I'm handing them to him, another pair of officers arrive. The second officer starts to place him in handcuffs while the first officer is checking our ID's the second officers escort my boyfriend to the front of the first officers vehicle and question him.
A:
In California, police officers are generally allowed to approach and ask you questions without probable cause, as long as you're free to leave and not detained. This type of interaction is called a "consensual encounter," and you don't have to answer their questions or provide identification unless you're driving or they have reasonable suspicion of a crime.
However, if the officers began detaining your boyfriend by placing him in handcuffs, this suggests the situation may have escalated beyond a consensual encounter. At this point, the police would need "reasonable suspicion" that a crime was being or had been committed to justify the detention.
You have the right to remain silent and ask if you're free to leave at any point during the interaction. If you or your boyfriend were detained or arrested without proper justification, it may be a violation of your rights, and it's important to seek legal advice about what happened.
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