Getting pulled over in a school zone

[shawkpilot]

Suppose you are out driving, or riding, and a cop wants to stop you for oh, let's say speeding, and you are approaching a school parking lot. You pull over into the lot, no curb lane, and are asked to step out of the car, or away from the motorcycle. You are carrying a firearm. Did you just escalate your charges to carrying on school property?

For the law enforcement officer: Can I continue on past the first pull off, in order to stay off of school grounds, or would I be starting a chase, and resisting arrest?


I did not get pulled over yesterday, but was riding past a school lot with no other good places to stop, and happened to think about it.

 

[LPMan59]

IANAL, but i would not stop on school property. i would try to signal to the officer that i was aware of him and drive slowly to the nearest non-school area.

 

[eldirector]

+1 - turn on your flashers and proceed to the next safe area.

I haven't been pulled over in *years*, but when/if I do, I always slow down, turn on my flashers, and continue to the next safe (for both the officer and myself) location. I did that one time years ago. The officer questioned me about it ("Why didn't you stop immediately?"), and I explained why ("I wanted to get us both out of traffic"). He was pretty pleasant after that.

 

[jmildoc]

I would also just acknowledge that I was going to pull over maybe put my flashers on then move on to a better place. I do not like to stop on the side of the highway. a couple times I have done this and gone up to a couple miles before stopping. one cop even thanked me for not pulling on the shoulder because I told him I have seen too many cops hit by cars... This was while I was living in maryland and the traffic was awful!!

 

[HighStrung]

Immediatly pull over and jump out of vehicle waving gun frantically, then proceed to run directly towards the school building in a bee-line fashion. YMMV

 

[j706]

Suppose you are out driving, or riding, and a cop wants to stop you for oh, let's say speeding, and you are approaching a school parking lot. You pull over into the lot, no curb lane, and are asked to step out of the car, or away from the motorcycle. You are carrying a firearm. Did you just escalate your charges to carrying on school property?

For the law enforcement officer: Can I continue on past the first pull off, in order to stay off of school grounds, or would I be starting a chase, and resisting arrest?


I did not get pulled over yesterday, but was riding past a school lot with no other good places to stop, and happened to think about it.

I would recommend doing what the laws say.
Emergency vehicles; yield of right-of-way
Sec. 35. (a) Upon the immediate approach of an authorized
emergency vehicle, when the person who drives the authorized
emergency vehicle is giving audible signal by siren or displaying
alternately flashing red, red and white, or red and blue lights, a
person who drives another vehicle shall do the following unless
otherwise directed by a law enforcement officer:
(1) Yield the right-of-way.
(2) Immediately drive to a position parallel to and as close as
possible to the right-hand edge or curb of the highway clear of
any intersection.
(3) Stop and remain in the position until the authorized
emergency vehicle has passed.



That means what it says. This stuff of putting on your flashers and driving to where you think is a good place to stop might at a minimum get you chewed out and at the most another citation. While most officers can understand your safety concerns,the officer picks the place they want you to stop. If they want you to pull off some place else they will tell you. As far as a school area,if the officer does something that puts you there at his direction, you have no worry's.

looking at it another way-say you are stopped near a school and a gunfight breaks out on the school grounds. The officer is alone and knows you are armed. He says come assist me or cover me in taking out this shooter. Whatcha gonna do?

 

[Tactical Dave]

I can't beleive this is a serious question........... Yes pull over into a school parking lot......... pulling over into the parking lot you would think could cause problems with the wrong officers because you chose to pull in inseaded of pulling over to the side of the road.... and as a LTCH carrier the law could say that you used the traffic stop as a reason to break a law (gun on school property) ect ect.


If you just pull over and your tires are touching school property on the side of the road then common scence for the officer comes into play here.... if not I doubt it would hold up enough to even go to court.

I doubt turning on your flashers and going down the road for a while will go over well...... could be considerd fleeing?

Do I think 9 times out of 10 something will happen if you pull into the parking lot? No but to me just pulling over to the side of the road has very little risk and I can't see how it could even make it to court, if it did I can't see it going far....

 

[shibumiseeker]

That means what it says. This stuff of putting on your flashers and driving to where you think is a good place to stop might at a minimum get you chewed out and at the most another citation. While most officers can understand your safety concerns,the officer picks the place they want you to stop. If they want you to pull off some place else they will tell you. As far as a school area,if the officer does something that puts you there at his direction, you have no worry's.

Huh, so I should have stopped in the construction zone where there were concrete barriers right on the lane lines and the two lanes were about five feet narrower than usual and the officer turned on his lights when we were still 3 miles from any exit of any sort? That's ok, I got a ticket for 55 in a 45 construction zone when I WAS DOING 45 and everyone around me was doing 55-60 and in Louisville if you contest a ticket and lose (and everyone loses) you could be on the hook for as much as a grand, so I suppose I should just suck it up that the state and its officers are always correct.

I dunno, I don't care if the officer is being an idiot, I am not going to endanger his life or the lives of other innocent people just to prove a point. That's just me though. FWIW, my gf who is a former state trooper agrees with me.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Lots of opinions...

who knows what each individual scenario would bring.

IF I'm pulled over, and I can easily find another place besides the school property to pull over, I will.

IF I cannot, I'll use the school lot.

IF asked out of the vehicle, I WILL inform the officer and ask how to further proceed.

IF the officer wants to push the issue of being armed and on a school property, I think that I'd REALLY want his supervisor present for the remainder of the incident.

yes, having a firearm on school property is, in most instances, illegal. However, in this case, it is the police officer who "forced" you onto the school property in the first place.

-J-

 

[rmabrey]

Lots of opinions...

who knows what each individual scenario would bring.

IF I'm pulled over, and I can easily find another place besides the school property to pull over, I will.

IF I cannot, I'll use the school lot.

IF asked out of the vehicle, I WILL inform the officer and ask how to further proceed.

IF the officer wants to push the issue of being armed and on a school property, I think that I'd REALLY want his supervisor present for the remainder of the incident.

yes, having a firearm on school property is, in most instances, illegal. However, in this case, it is the police officer who "forced" you onto the school property in the first place.

-J-

I agree with this. There is a school here in Evansville that if a cop turns on his lights there isnt a safe place to pull over other then the school lot without making several turns through busy roads.

Unless the cop wants to be a real butthead he should understand

 

[MinuteMan47]

I would recommend doing what the laws say.
Emergency vehicles; yield of right-of-way
Sec. 35. (a) Upon the immediate approach of an authorized
emergency vehicle, when the person who drives the authorized
emergency vehicle is giving audible signal by siren or displaying
alternately flashing red, red and white, or red and blue lights, a
person who drives another vehicle shall do the following unless
otherwise directed by a law enforcement officer:
(1) Yield the right-of-way.
(2) Immediately drive to a position parallel to and as close as
possible to the right-hand edge or curb of the highway clear of
any intersection.
(3) Stop and remain in the position until the authorized
emergency vehicle has passed.



That means what it says. This stuff of putting on your flashers and driving to where you think is a good place to stop might at a minimum get you chewed out and at the most another citation. While most officers can understand your safety concerns,the officer picks the place they want you to stop. If they want you to pull off some place else they will tell you. As far as a school area,if the officer does something that puts you there at his direction, you have no worry's.

looking at it another way-say you are stopped near a school and a gunfight breaks out on the school grounds. The officer is alone and knows you are armed. He says come assist me or cover me in taking out this shooter. Whatcha gonna do?

Thank you for posting this law. However, I would do whatever I THOUGHT was right at that time. After all, it's a level playing field and everyone is on the same learning curve. Just bear with us...don't "chew us out and write us citations".... eventually we will learn all of the laws.

Maybe I should have used purple...

 

[j706]

Huh, so I should have stopped in the construction zone where there were concrete barriers right on the lane lines and the two lanes were about five feet narrower than usual and the officer turned on his lights when we were still 3 miles from any exit of any sort? That's ok, I got a ticket for 55 in a 45 construction zone when I WAS DOING 45 and everyone around me was doing 55-60 and in Louisville if you contest a ticket and lose (and everyone loses) you could be on the hook for as much as a grand, so I suppose I should just suck it up that the state and its officers are always correct.

I dunno, I don't care if the officer is being an idiot, I am not going to endanger his life or the lives of other innocent people just to prove a point. That's just me though. FWIW, my gf who is a former state trooper agrees with me.

Well then do what you think is right.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Well then do what you think is right.

I did. I've also had EVOC and have run lights and sirens hundreds if not thousands of times. Most of those times I have tried my best to do it safely and responsibly.

 

[christman]

That would be entrapment if they arrested you for a firearm on school property if they initiated the stop. Civil lawsuit would be won in a week.

 

[Waynetucky10]

I also agree with Indy guy 77 cops can not be grouped together any more than gun owners. Do what you think is smart for the situation and show them respect then pray real hard.

 

[DragonGunner]

My understanding of the law is even if you did pull over on school property, just leave your handgun in the car if you have to get out. As long as you an your handgun are in the vehicle there is no crime, even on school property..if the officer asked you to get out, let him know an he can make the decision how to handle your exit if required.

 

[zebov]

If it ever made it to court, this would boil down to the question: Does an order from a police officer to do something illegal exonerate you from the repercussions of that illegal act?

Does anyone have any case law on this question?

 

[downzero]

If they want you to pull off some place else they will tell you. As far as a school area,if the officer does something that puts you there at his direction, you have no worry's.

Do ONLY what this man says. Welcome to the police state of INDIANA!

Obey or another citation is in order, probably written by someone who doesn't understand how to use apostrophes!

 

[Kirk Freeman]

The possessive is not plural, unless the police tell you that it is.

shawk, I think your scenario would have a really good entrapment and possibly a duress defense.

I have never heard of a case like this with a LTCH (I had a case with a felon with a firearm once where the officer made him carry the shotgun away, but not like this at all).

I can just see the Prosecuting Attorney, grabbing his lapels like they do, rocking on heels and being sanctimonious, and it would go a little something like this,

[Scene: hallway Tippecanoe County courthouse]

Prosecutor: "Well, he should have driven past the school property."

Kirk: "Yes, Your Grace, but then you would have filed Resisting Law Enforcement with a Vehicle as another Class D."

Prosecutor: *grabs lapels harder and give dramatic sweep of the hand* "That's not my fault, your client chose where to stop. The driver must take responsibility as all citizens must, unless you work for the Marion County Prosecuting Attorney and your name is Brizzi or DePrez."

Kirk: "Yes, but, but Your Eminence, your police have scary Jedi powers that can make my client stop where the police so designate with the powers of the mind, like in Cop Jedi School. Just look here at this cop's scary mental powers, Your Excellency:

While most officers can understand your safety concerns,the officer picks the place they want you to stop [with his mind powers]. If they want you to pull off some place else they will tell you.

If it was me, I'd drive past the school property. I don't care if the copper wants to yell at me, heck, after that moron cop pointed a pistol at me, they just don't scare me with sound and spittle anymore.

If I pull over, it will be on the street in front of the school, but I'm not going on school property.

 

[Boilers]

Knives are not allowed in schools, yet every time I go to a school during a function open to the public, I see a ton of knife clips on pockets.