May I See Your Papers Please?

by Rick Gee

Abby Newman of Ferrum, Virginia is my newest hero. After you watch these videos, she may become your hero too. 

On September 12, 2000, Ms. Newman was traveling along Virginia 40, minding her own business, when a state police officer motioned for her to pull over. Had Ms. Newman been speeding? Was she weaving around after a night of cocktails? Was she a victim of racial profiling? No, she was pulled over for a routine “license and registration checkpoint.” 

Since she had done nothing wrong, and was being stopped for no good reason, Abby Newman was in no mood to cooperate with the police. 

*   *   *   *   *   *   * 

Cop: Who are you? What is your name? I need to know who you are. 

Newman: No, you don’t. 

Cop: Yes, ma’am, I do. 

Newman: I’m not speeding. I’m not intoxicated. I have given you no reason to stop me, and this irritates me. And I would be very happy to go into town and talk to the supervisor, because laws cannot be passed— 

Cop: Ma’am, I would be glad to give you my supervisor’s name and phone number, but first I have to know who you are. 

Newman: That is insufficient. You do not have to know who I am. 

(This cop must have been utterly flabbergasted at the insolence of this particular serf, because at this point he reaches inside Newman’s car and opens the door.) 

Newman: Sir, you cannot, you cannot— 

Cop: Step out of the vehicle. 

Newman: No sir. You cannot reach into this vehicle. 

Cop: Sure I can. I have to know who you are. 

(Gee, do you think he wants to know who she is? The suspense is killing him.) 

Newman: You do not. 

Cop: I must know who you are before you can go down the road. 

Newman: I have not broken any laws. 

(At this point, Cop #2 comes over, probably thinking, “What’s the hold-up here? I have a very important appointment at Krispy Kreme!”) 

Cop: I have not accused you of breaking any laws, ma’am.  

(Not yet he hasn’t. Just give him a minute; he’ll come up with something.) 

Newman: You just reached in my vehicle and opened this door. 

Cop: I have no idea who you are. You may be wanted in ten states for all I know, OK? I need to know who you are. Do you have a driver’s license? 

(Apparently Officer Vic here feels no compunction whatever in assuming the worst about this “suspect.”) 

Newman: It just occurred to me that you have no probable cause. 

(Probable cause? Where do you think this is, lady? America?) 

Cop: Shut the ignition off. 

Newman: What? 

Cop: Turn your car off for me. 

Newman: Why? 

Cop: Because I’m asking you to turn the car off. Turn the car off.

(Doesn’t sound like he’s asking to me. Sounds more like a direct order.) 

Cop: Are you going to give me your driver’s license? You’re not going to give me your driver’s license? 

Newman: No. 

Cop: OK, do you realize you’re obstructing justice? 

(Obstructing justice? Isn’t that what Slick Willie did? This woman is just sitting in her car, standing up for herself.) 

Newman: I’m on the side of the road and I’m not doing any such thing. You asked me to pull over— 

Cop: You’re obstructing justice. 

Newman: Justice? 

Cop: Yes ma’am. And I don’t know who you are. 

(His dogged pursuit of the identity of this dangerous criminal continues unabated.) 

Newman: You don’t need to know who I am. 

Cop: Yes ma’am, I do. 

Newman: I don’t know who you are, sir. 

Cop: Step out of the car for me. 

Newman: No sir. 

Cop: I am trooper Mike Boylan with the Virginia State Police. 

(Way to go, Mike. She’s sure to crack now!) 

Newman: You are violating my United States constitutional rights. No matter what the laws in the state of Virginia have to say, they cannot usurp that. Any laws that go contrary to the United States constitution are null and void, and I do not have to submit to them. I am not intoxicated. You have already stated you don’t know who I am, so therefore— 

(Uh oh, Mike. She sounds pretty smart: “usurp” and “null and void.” She must be a lawyer or something.) 

Cop: That’s the whole point: I don’t know who you are. I told you who I am, OK? 

(That’s the way, Mike. You tell her who’s boss.) 

Cop: This is an approved checking detail site. 

(Don’t you feel safer knowing that the cops are meticulously checking details of license and registration instead of, oh I don’t know, hunting down real criminals?) 

Cop: Are you gonna tell me who you are? 

Newman: No sir. 

Cop: You’re not gonna tell me who you are? 

(Mike, isn’t it obvious at this point that she has no intention of telling you her name? Maybe if you ask her another 16 times, she’ll tell you everything: her name, her measurements, where Jimmy Hoffa is buried. If that doesn’t work, maybe you can haul her downtown and put her under the hot lights, submit her to Chinese water torture, or better yet, take off her shoes [“I need you to take off your shoes. Are you gonna take off your shoes?”] and give her forty lashes with the bastinado.) 

Newman: You have not charged me with anything. You have not told me I’ve done anything wrong, and I do not owe you that, sir, because I don’t serve you; you serve me. And I think you and your bosses and everybody else who writes the laws have forgotten that. 

Cop: I told you, my bosses don’t write the laws, we simply enforce the law, ma’am. 

(Hey Mike, take out your gun and show her you’re not fucking around.) 

Newman: Even if they’re wrong? 

Cop: Is that worth debating here on the side of the road? 

(Uh, Mike, you forgot to ask her what her name is.) 

Newman: Yes sir, it is, because when you take one, you take another, you take another, and before you know it, we can’t go anywhere without our papers, and that’s what this is: “May I see your papers please? You can’t travel down this road, ma’am, unless you show me your papers please.” That’s what this is. 

Cop: Step out of the car for me. 

(Say “pretty please” Mike.) 

Newman: Sir. 

Cop: Step out of the car for me. 

Newman: I do not have to obey you. I’ve not broken any laws. 

Cop: I’m asking you to step out of the vehicle for me. 

(He is so patient and polite!) 

Newman: And I’m saying I’m not going to step out of my vehicle. You’ve already told me the stickers are in order. I wasn’t traveling, and under speed. I’ve done nothing wrong, and this is absolutely wrong. 

Cop: Do you have your driver’s license with you? 

(Mike has grown weary of Ms. Newman’s stalling tactics. He also has an appointment at Krispy Kreme. He and Cop #2 decide to give up on persuasion and resort to force.) 

Newman: Don’t reach inside my vehicle. 

Cop: I’m going to place you under arrest for obstructing justice. 

Newman: What am I obstructing, sir? SIR! 

Cop: Step out of the car for me. Step out of the car for me. 

Newman: You are physically forcing me out of my—no sir, don’t you touch any of my personal belongings in this car. You’re right I’ve recorded this conversation. Yes I did. 

Cop: Resisting arrest. 

Newman: I did not resist. 

Cop #2: I’ll get the car. 

(Ah, to hell with the Constitution, officer. Go ahead and search that car. No need for a warrant, or even probable cause.) 

Newman: Don’t you take one single item out of my vehicle, sir. (To Cop): I’m not fighting you. 

Cop: You’re under arrest for resisting arrest, obstruction of justice and assaulting a police officer. 

Newman: I did not assault you. 

(Later, when Ms. Newman is presumably handcuffed and in the squad car, our keystone cops engage in an illegal search of the car.) 

Cop: Would you say I did anything wrong? 

(Of course not, Mike. You are a veritable paragon of virtue.) 

Cop #2: No. 

Cop: I mean, she’s gotta present me a driver’s license. 

Cop #2: Yep. She’s got to. 

(The Adam-12 duo continues to rifle the car, looking for something with which they may trump up some additional charges, no doubt.) 

Cop: Strategies of Submarine Warfare, Hidden Agenda. 

Cop #2: Man, she’s into this weird crap. 

(Yeah, it’s really scary. She sounds like the type who would read Clancy!) 

Cop: Ruthless.com, The Bear and the Dragon, Patriot Games … Well, I better get a record started. 

Cop #2: Do you wanna ask her, or … 

Cop: I’ll just write down she invoked her right to remain silent, even though she don’t believe in our laws. 

(I had no idea that the verb “to do” was so difficult to conjugate, especially for a smart cop like you, Mike. That’s OK. You doesn’t need to know how to speak proper when you have that gun to do the talking for you.) 

*   *   *   *   *   *   * 

Do we need any further proof that the Constitution is dead in this country? The Fourth Amendment states “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” 

Abby Newman was very much aware of her constitutional rights on that September evening. Furthermore, she was willing to take a stand for those rights. Clearly, the search of her car was unreasonable; the cops had no warrant, nor did they have probable cause.  

Setting up a checkpoint where citizens are pulled over at random and harassed is a violation in itself. Usually they are set up under the guise of removing drunk drivers from the highways. How can these checkpoints be legal? Simple: the Supreme Court of the United States says so. In Michigan State Department of Police v. Sitz (1990), SCOTUS ruled that “In sum, the balance of the State's interest in preventing drunken driving, the extent to which this system can reasonably be said to advance that interest, and the degree of intrusion upon individual motorists who are briefly stopped, weighs in favor of the state program. We therefore hold that it is consistent with the Fourth Amendment.” 

Look, just because the Supreme Court issues such an opinion doesn’t make it right, or even constitutional. Remember, judges, even the top nine judges in the land, are merely lawyer-politicians in black robes and are an integral cog in the wheel of the state apparatus. We should not be surprised when the Supreme Court rules in favor of another branch of government and against the interests of individual liberty. 

Such checkpoints have no place in a free society. And what is the compelling State interest in making sure that randomly detained drivers have their license and registration in their possession? Whether the checkpoint is a DUI checkpoint or a detail checkpoint, the result is the same: the individual loses his liberty, and the state grows ever more tyrannical. 

In the interest of justifying such harassment, politicians and their statist supporters typically fall back on the mantra of the nanny state: we are here to protect you and provide you with security. Once again, they ignore the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin, who taught us “they that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Ultimately, the protection that the state purports to provide is an illusion, and the dupes among us end up trading their liberty for a handful of air. Count me among those who wish to retain their liberty.

August 17, 2001