Reply #10: I am not one of those. Not by a long shot.

[MADem]

I think the guy was confrontational. I also think he thinks that dogs are trained to bark hysterically and scratch your paint if they find anything suspicious. The ones I've seen just give a glance and sit quietly. The act of sitting is how they "alert."

I am not asssuming that an "attempt to assert your Constitutional rights" means "your (sic) guilty of something...wow!"

I do think, though, if you act like a belligerent asshole, the cops are going to wonder if you're trying to conceal something. Behavior that is outside the norm does make one wonder. This guy wasn't even opening his window to speak with the police, which is why they had to break the glass.

If the dog did, in fact, alert, then the police did have probable cause. For all we know he could have been out in the desert burying a body, hence, the "human smell." Or maybe his kids were playing in the trunk earlier in the day, who knows?

The guy does seem like a confrontational jerk. He also seems a bit unhinged with his "pissing" sermons, too.

I look as 'different' as the next person, but when I get stopped by the police I don't aggravate them by getting in their face about my rights and "Whatcha gonna do about it?" There are ways to calmly assert one's rights while being polite about it, and as I said, I would like to see the tape from the cops on this arrest. If he was overly excited or angered after being stopped, they may have suspected drug use or an alcohol consumption issue.

I've been stopped by the state police/border patrol near (not at, near/inland from the border maybe five or seven miles) borders at those sort of ad hoc stops. I've never been asked where I was going, but I was asked once where I was coming from (I had been in a town on this side of the border). I showed my license, got nosy and asked "Who are you looking for? Criminals, illegals or terrists?" and was promptly sent on my way. And this was during a period of time when I was on the TSA Watch List.

Another time I got bagged at one of those ad hoc border stops and to make matters worse, I was exceeding the speed limit by a fair amount. I didn't give them any shit and they told me to slow down, but didn't give me a ticket. All I did in that instance was show my license and speak in a civil tone.

I just wonder if there's more here than meets the eye. There may well be.