Originally Posted by
mr_bill
In fact, had he had a warrant, he would have been arrested, but then may have been released due to the error.
Uh, no. They wouldn't dismiss a warrant just because the cop who apprehended him did so because he was mistaken about bicycle taillights. A warrant is issued by a judge, and a warrant for a charge unrelated to the traffic stop would not just be thrown out, nor would they release him with the warrant still standing. That would be stupid, because all an officer would have to do is just wait for him to leave the courtroom and rearrest him on said warrant.
However, had the search subsequent to arrest turned up something as minor as a “recreational” quantity of drugs, then he could be arrested and not released, tried, and then even convicted. See Utah v. Strieff, and Sotomayor’s brilliant dissent on how that makes absolutely no sense.
Yes, if the arrest occurred due to the warrant. However, if he had no warrant and was arrested for possession of drugs after a search because of the traffic stop, then that would easily be thrown out if the cop maintained that he pulled him over due to no taillight on the bicycle. "Fruit of the poisonous tree," as it's called. However, for any search to happen the guy would have to be stupid enough to give consent, since for an infraction there's not really any justification for a personal search.
But at any rate, we're getting way the heck off the topic with all these "what if's" since that's obviously not what happened here. The guy was not searched, he had no warrants, the cop didn't cite him, so it was little more than a "citizen contact" type stop that the guy's making a mountain out of a molehill. Again, had it happened to me, if I on my bicycle were hard to see by motorists, I'd be grateful for the info because I really don't want to get run over by a motorist who can't see me. And I don't care if a cop wants to run me for warrants because I know that I've never had a warrant in my life, nor plan to.