Originally Posted by
polonius
I don't think you understood the context properly -- I wasn't inventing a hypothetical, I was relating an actual event that happened to me when I was 16. I WAS standing and holding a dark green bottle of ginger ale. Without being conscious of it, I was holding it with the label towards my body. A cop pulls up and demands "let me see the bottle", and when I look at him and shake my head, he jumps out, and says "I SAID, 'let me see the bottle'" and he grabs it out of my hand, looks at the label, sniffs it, hands it back, gets back in his car and drives off.
Incorrectly done.
Now also note that what the Exclusionary Rule does is eliminate evidence in court. The officer could have done the exact same thing and, had it been a beer, made you pour it out but not cite you, take you to jail, etc. No violation occurred because no actionable charges were filed.
I've "slapped the wrist" of many people over the years and told them to cut it out. Officer discretion and all of that. And maybe I took a Constitutional liberty or two but I knew, beforehand, I wasn't going to press charges. Of course I don't recommend doing it because you may find something else out later that you have to press charges on and that evidence might be tainted (Fruit of the Poisonous Tree), but I've taken beers and joints and paint thinner (huffers), etc. away from kids without proper Constitutional due process, because I filed no charges.
If they came from homes that gave a crap about them I usually told their parents, which is infinitely worse than criminal charges.
Also, I was not using your specific example other than to demonstrate how their is no "presumption of innocence" on the street. If that were the case no LE work would be done other than what was personally observed by the LEO. On the street, presumption of innocence means diddly-do. All that counts is reasonable suspicion and probable cause to believe a crime has been committed, so long as criminal charges are anticipated.