A police body cam video shared on TikTok on July 12 shows a traffic stop that escalated after officers noticed what appeared to be a marijuana blunt in the vehicle. The video's overlay text read, 'A Simple Traffic Stop Becomes Anything But Routine.'
The footage shows an officer initially talking to a woman before asking the male passenger to get out of the car too.
The officer told the woman she had not come to a full stop at the sign, then asked for her identification. She said she did not have her wallet but had a photo of her ID, which the officer agreed to accept.
The officer then inquires if there are any firearms in the car and requests that the rear windows be lowered. During the conversation, the officer said he noticed what he described as a blunt or blunt roach in the vehicle. He asked the occupants when they had last smoked. 'Twenty-five minutes ago,' the woman said. This answer later became a major topic of discussion in the comments.
@joyce.hurlbut A Simple Traffic Stop Becomes Anything But Routine #cops #police #bodycam #fyp #usa
♬ original sound - Joyce
The officer then asks both people to switch off the car and get out of it; he said that he had probable cause to search the vehicle since there was obvious marijuana in it and the occupants had said that they had smoked about 25 minutes before. The officers are then seen searching the passengers for weapons while they are waiting for another unit to arrive.
The passenger told officers he had recently been released from prison and was on his way to work, adding that he had just acquired the vehicle. During the questioning, he was concerned that there might be a firearm in the car that belonged to another person.
The officer then reads out his rights to him and asks if he understands them and whether he wishes to speak to the police.
The video does not show the final result of the incident, or whether anyone was arrested or charged. Still, as of publication, the footage has more than 43,000 likes as viewers are divided on almost every aspect of the stop. Many kept doubting the initial traffic violation and asked, "Stop sign?" Others were upset by the fact that the officers requested that the passenger produce identification. A group of commenters also noted that a passenger is not obliged to give ID when being stopped for a traffic violation.
The passengers' admission that they had smoked about 25 minutes earlier also drew significant discussion. One person commented, "Why (…) would they say 25 mins [ago?]," while another joked that they ought to have said that it had happened "hours ago." Others criticized the passengers for having smoked in the car in the first place.
Some viewers noted that the officers appeared calm throughout and that the occupants cooperated with instructions. One stated that the officers "had to follow protocol," and another that the occupants were obeying instructions. Others were puzzled as to why the situation seemed to get serious after it started as just a stop-sign violation.
Some commenters argued the officers 'just wanted to search the car' and that questioning the passenger was unnecessary.
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify the events depicted in this video or confirm the location of the traffic stop. The details above reflect the footage as shared on TikTok by @joyce.hurlbut.
