Christie was pulled over for a cracked windshield, but the traffic stop resulted in her car being towed.

Date of Incident:  11.6.18
Time: 7:30 pm

Age: 30 years old

On a dark night, Christie was on the highway heading to Ankeny. An officer pulls up behind her and turns on his police lights. He tells her he pulled her over because she has a cracked windshield.

When he runs her information through the system, he finds that she has a suspended license. Christie explained that she had received a letter in July 2018 informing her that her license had been restored because she paid all of her fines.  She did not have the letter in her vehicle.  Then he came back and said he was going to tow my car. I asked him why and he said it was because there was not a valid driver.

The officer then said “I’m going to search your car.” I asked him why and he said because it smells like marijuana.  Before he searched, he said “I’m not going to find anything big in there, right? You can tell me upfront. You can tell me right now. If there’s anything big in there let me know now.” “He searched my car while I sat in the front of the patrol car. He found nothing in his search and impounded my car anyway. I asked him why he was impounding my car still and he said it was either impounding my car or taking me to jail.

 Christie called her father to retrieve her car and he arrived.  However, the officer wouldn’t allow him to because he told her father that “Christie’s car smells like marijuana.” He searched the car but found nothing. In the end Christie received a warning for the windshield and a citation for the suspended license.  Her car was still towed.