People v. Zayed, 2016 IL App (3d) 140780 (February).(Episode 145 Duration 4:09)

The officer crossed the line by whipping out the defendant's penis and essentially conducting an unreasonable strip search.

Normal Traffic Stop

Officer observed a silver Dodge fail to signal a turn. He initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle. After he activated his emergency lights, the back seat passenger—the defendant—move around the back seat and that the defendant’s “head came close to the roof line of the vehicle.”

It looked like he was trying to stand up.

A strong odor of cannabis came from the car.

Searches For Everybody

The driver stated cannabis had been smoked in the car earlier in the day. Officer had the defendant exit the vehicle. He “was concerned for [his] safety because of [the defendant’s] movements inside the car during the traffic stop.”

During a pat down frisk of the defendant, the defendant’s pants were then unzipped and his belt undone. Officer finds two plastics bags in the area of the defendant’s genitals, one of which contained what he believed to be crack cocaine.

Unreasonable Search

Usually, the odor of cannabis provides sufficient probable cause to search a car and its occupants.

However, the roadside strip search crossed the line of reasonableness.

The search of the defendant involved extremely intrusive means and it should have been performed in a manner that respected the defendant’s privacy. 725 ILCS 5/103-1 regulates a strip search.

This one was not done in a minimally intrusive manner and as such it was unreasonable.

Takes His Dick Out

Apparently, whipping out the defendant's penis on the roadside in front of the officer's squad camera made the defendant visibly uncomfortable.