Question: I was coming home from Georgia Tech after a party in Midtown and I got stopped in Dunwoody. My friend in the car was insulting to the Dunwoody police officer. He told the cop that he couldn't make in through the first year at Tech and that the cop looked like a cartoon character and was Paul Blart Mall Cop. I was respectful. My friend, who I've known since high school and actually goes to the University of Georgia, then said I had some weed under the seat and that I was smoking "like Bob Marley."
He was just really drunk and we don't smoke pot. So instead of letting me go with just a speeding ticket, the cop asked me to get out of the car. He then said he could smell alcohol on my breath. Anyway, I finally got arrested and he took me to jail. I was charged with DUI and my case is at the Dunwoody Municipal Court.
Can the cop really question me for stupid things my drunken friend said? I didn't say much at all.
Answer: Your friend's statement that you had marijuana within the vehicle and that you smoked "like Bob Marley," a world famous musician and well-known pot user, were indeed sufficient enough to raise a "reasonable suspicion" in the mind of the Dunwoody police officer that you may have used an illegal drug and that you were a less safe driver because of it. It is certainly not uncommon for a passenger in a car to say or do something that would arouse the suspicion of a law enforcement officer and thus cause serious legal problems for the driver of the vehicle.
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