N.J. Bill Would Allow Cops to Look Through Your Phone After an Accident

From The Blaze.com (Jun 11):

Those involved in car crashes in New Jersey might need to prepare themselves to hand over their license, registration and cellphone — no warrant required — to police if new legislation introduced by the state Senate becomes law.

According to the New Jersey Star-Ledger, such a law would assist in accident investigations by allowing police to see if a hand-held phone was a contributing factor. Such hand-held devices are illegal to use while operating a vehicle in the state.

Others though are protesting the legislation saying it violates Fourth Amendment protections against a search and seizure of private property without a warrant.

Here are the perspectives of both sides as presented by the Star-Ledger:

“Think about it: The chances of the cop witnessing the accident are slim to none,” said the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. James Holzapfel (R-Ocean), the bill’s sponsor, who has worked as a county and municipal prosecutor. “He’s dispatched, and by the time he gets there — unless they’re unconscious and the phone is in their hands, or some passenger says they were on the phone — then he’s got to do what? Subpoena the service to see if the phone was actively used or not?”

The measure is troubling to the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, which said it is “likely susceptible to a constitutional challenge.”

“This bill is problematic because it infringes on the privacy rights of citizens,” said Alexander Shalom, the ACLU’s state policy counsel. “Our state and federal constitutions generally require probable cause before authorizing a search, particularly when it comes to areas that contain highly personal information such as cell phones.”

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If the police suspect you are under the influence when they pull you over, they have to ask you if you want to walk a straight line or take a breathalyzer test. You have to agree to do either test. I believe this is what is the procedure in most states. I believe it should be the same with the cell phone when you are stopped.

Now, I would hope most police officers would ask to see your phone if you are involved in a car accident even if this law passes. It’s just a courteous thing to do. Is the police going take the phones of both parties involved in the car accident?

I mean if you are hit from the rear wouldn’t it be the fault of the other car? Even if you were using your cell phone at the time it would be almost impossible for you to cause the accident unless by chance you slammed your breaks on or your car just happen to break down. Then slamming on your breaks would show skid marks and if you had a car malfunction an analysis of the car would show that. And if you slammed your breaks on, that wouldn’t necessary be your fault if you got rear ended. You could have slammed your breaks on because you had to make a quick stop to avoid hitting something. The driver rear ending you could have his brakes go out if there are no tire marks but then an inspection of the brakes would show this. 

Side on collisions is a little more complicated. If you hit someone on the side that mean you or the other driver ran a stop sign or a red light. Both of which could be caused by the driver or caused by the brakes not working. Front-on collision are even more complicated to analyze. They are usually caused by one of the drivers. It’s complicated because now you have to decide which driver is at fault. I don’t see how a car malfunction could cause this kind of accident. Although, I guess it is possible. In both these two cases, I can understand the police taking the cell phone, but still I think they need a search warrant.

If the police are trying to figure out if you were distracted before the accident what are they going to do about “non-cellphone” distractions like sneezing or just reaching for something under the dash or even glancing away briefly from the road? Or even talking to a passenger or yelling at your kids to settle down in the back seat. How can the police or even the driver prove any of these distractions unless a witness or a camera saw it? Then again if a camera or witness saw the distraction, then both would have seen the driver use his/her cellphone. Then what would happen if you used your cell phone then had a stroke or heartattack a second after using it? Looking at the cell phone wouldn’t show the true cause of the accident.