is there anything i can do about this..?

if im 18 and i'm walking home and an officer stops me for no apparent reason and searches me does that violate my 4th amendment? he searched me and found nothing he said he smelt alcohol on me and told me to get into the back of his car so i said no and ran. they found me eventually and i did not recieve my miranda rights. is there anything i can do about this?

The reason might not have been apparent to you but all that's necessary is that the reason be apparent to the officer to give him probably cause for the search.

And being Mirandized is not required unless the officer intends to use your own statements against you.

Running was an incredibly bad idea.

Consult a criminal attorney if you are being prosecuted for something.

If you were charged with something, you should probably go talk to a lawyer.

Running away wasn't exactly a great idea.

In the future, if stopped by the police, your very best bet is to polite and nice.  

A "no sir" "yes sir" polite attitude usually works better.

In my humble little opinion, you should be extra careful when you in your late teens and early 20's.  

blake g.:

an officer stops me for no apparent reason

The reason was not apparent to you because you aren't the cop.  The problem is that you don't know every incident occurring or the description of every person that the cops have an APB on.  You probably don't even know how you appeared when walking; maybe you jaywalked; maybe there's a missing kid meeting your description, zillions of possibilities could have been reasons.

Running was absolutely dumb.  If nothing resulted from it, simply look at it as a lesson learned.

Were you arrested?

Yes

I was just walking  down the sidewalk and im 6'1 and i dont think a kid is going to be as big as me..

blake g.:

Yes

You were arrested for what?

Evading arrest

blake g.:

Evading arrest

You need to hire a decent criminal defense lawyer ASAP.

According to this website, you have to be dirt poor to get a public defender appointed for you, but there are links you can explore to try to find out more, if you're poor but not sure whether you're poor enough:

http://trafficcourtpros.com/texas.html?bpid=564

Running away was a huge mistake, unless the cop wasn't in uniform and didn't have a marked vehicle or lightbars, and in your shoes a reasonable person would have been worried that he was a criminal pretending to be a cop.  Even then, once you saw more cops appear, you should have stopped running.

As far as the search, the best information I could find was that if the cop has probable cause to believe you were (or were about to, or had recently) engaged in criminal activity, he can stop you and "perform a limited search for the officer's safety."  Apparently he can say he smelled an illegal substance (in your case, since you are under 21, alcohol) and that might be good enough for probable cause.

Find yourself a good lawyer, and good luck!

blake g.:

Evading arrest

Given what you posted that sounds about right to me.  Best consult with a criminal defense attorney unless you really want a conviction on your record.  Just so you know, you don't.

You do understand that cica was just pointing out an *example* and she has no clue why the cop might want to stop you, yes?  :)  (As in, the notion that you'd speak to her example is a bit odd ("i dont [sic] think a kid is going to be as big as me.)

I think the answer to your question (though it is awfully broad/vague) is very obvious:  you can contact an attorney or you can decide not to do so.

"Running was an incredibly bad idea."

It was a bad idea only because he got caught.

Otherwise, it may have been a great idea, and here's why:

The officer said that he smelled alcohol only after he searched the OP and found nothing. That means that it's very likely that the OP was not reeking of alcohol and that the officer simply wanted to arrest the OP for nothing. Given that suspects have been beaten and even murdered while in police custody, I'd say that running away was the smartest thing this guy did.

I used to work for the Feds, and even I would run away from an officer who showed such red flags in his behavior.

Midwest_Worker:

I'd say that running away was the smartest thing this guy did.

Except that he WAS caught and has now been charged with evading arrest.  How do you figure that is smart.

Midwest_Worker:

I used to work for the Feds, and even I would run away from an officer who showed such red flags in his behavior

What does your having worked for the "feds" have to do with why you would run away and what red flags are you talking about here? 

"Except that he WAS caught and has now been charged with evading arrest. How do you figure that is smart."

First of all, you'll notice that "evading arrest" is the *only* thing the OP has been charged with. What was the OP originally being arrested for?

Also, the author Gavin de Becker wrote a book called "The Gift of Fear". He spoke about how women will sometimes see a strange man while waiting for an elevator, get bad vibes from him, and then get into the elevator with him. Why didn't they wait for the next elevator? Because they didn't want to be rude.

What is de Becker's point? God gave you instincts to be safe. So use them. If you're a woman and you get bad vibes from some guy, don't get into an elevator with him. If you're being questioned by police and you sense something inappropriate happening, run.

When you're trying to escape from danger, sometimes you'll succeed, and sometimes you'll be caught and maybe killed. The fact that an escape attempt may result in failure does not mean that you should not make the attempt.

"What does your having worked for the "feds" have to do with why you would run away and what red flags are you talking about here?"

I worked for the "feds" in enforcing federal law. So, I'm not some hippy, liberal, hate-all-authority type.

What red flags? The officer came up to the OP and would not provide a reason for searching the OP. (Red flag #1)

When the officer failed to find anything illegal on the OP, the officer said he smelled alcohol on the OP. That sounds as if the alcohol was the officer's "Plan B". If the officer smelled alcohol, he should've mentioned the alcohol at the beginning. (Red flag #2)

By the way, what does the law against public intoxication say? Does the law say that you can not have ANY alcohol in your system? Did the officer even try to find out whether the OP had enough alcohol in the OP's system in order to be legally intoxicated? Did the officer try to administer a breathalyzer test?