Scenarios of Attempting to Elude an Officer in Bucks County

There may be instances where you see police trailing behind you, and your instinct might be to panic. Panicking is a completely normal reaction, however, it is important that you do not attempt to flee the police. Doing so is a criminal offense, and could result in serious consequences. In fact, the consequences might be more severe than they would have been if you had stopped initially. If you want to know more about scenarios of attempting to elude an officer in Bucks County, speak with a knowledgeable traffic attorney that could answer your questions.

Common Situations That Could Result in Attempt to Elude an Officer Charges

The most common scenarios of attempting to elude an officer in Bucks County comes into play is when individuals have been signaled to pullover and due to the fact that they have knowledge of some sort of contraband in their vehicle, i.e., firearms, drug paraphernalia, drugs, amounts of United States currency which may be illegal under certain circumstances, they continue going in hopes of getting away from police and not being searched and/or apprehended.

However, once an individual attempts to elude police or flee police, once they are apprehended, that charge comes into play as well as probable cause to fully search that vehicle. Once that vehicle is stopped, the contraband will be recovered. In some rare cases, individuals attempt to elude police in order to get rid of otherwise incriminating evidence that is inside a vehicle by throwing a firearm, drugs, et cetera out the window. Should the person ultimately be apprehended, and if the firearm is recovered, the individual would be subject to flee police charges, firearms charges, attempting to destroy evidence charges, and any other charges that can flow from that natural procedure.

Exiting the Highway After Being Caught Speeding

If an individual notices that a police officer is clocking their speed and they purposely exit the highway, that would be considered one of the scenarios of attempting to elude an officer in Bucks County. Eluding can be argued by the police to have occurred if the police can show that the individual was well aware that their speed was being monitored by police. But the police still have the burden beyond a reasonable doubt that their signal was visible. Thus, in a majority of those types of cases, if a person exits the highway, the police can pull them over. However, once the lights and sirens go on, as long as the person immediately pulls over, an elude charge may not follow.

How Driving Behavior Can Be Interpreted as Attempting to Elude an Officer

The law requires that upon lights and sirens or a signal by the police to pull a vehicle over, that the vehicle must adhere to the lights and sirens and adhere to the law, and attempt to pull over at the next available safe opportunity to do so. However, in some circumstances, because of the evening hours, lighting conditions, highway and/or road conditions, is subject to the interpretation of what a safe area is. If the matter comes into play in a court of law, an attorney has the ability to argue to the court that this particular location was the safest place for an individual to pull over, even if it was a little more than a reasonable distance from the initial signal to pull over. Those are facts that are determined by the police, the defense attorney, and the prosecution, as well as the court. They are all subjective determinations of whether or not a person attempted to elude or not. A proper defense always comes into play when challenging the ability of a person to stop in the next safe area. The circumstances, the environment, and the individual’s own subjectivity all come into play.

What Officers Look for When Pulling Someone Over For Eluding an Officer?

Officers simply look for whether or not a person complied with their request to pull over at one signal by lights and sirens or verbally, and whether or not the person reasonably pulled over in a safe location. The individual may have gone a little further in an effort to find a location where they could safely pull over and not risk an officer or their own safety which is always encouraged by the law.

These are gray areas which could be challenged in court. With an experienced defense attorney by your side, almost all areas can be determined to be a safe and more reasonable place to stop the car. However, police will also look at whether or not the individual increased their speed, made turns without signals, went off the highway to avoid them, or any other means such as parking the car and turning the lights off and/or removing themselves from the vehicle which would help them elude arrest and avoid any sort of apprehension. If an individual wants to know more about scenarios of attempting to elude an officer in Bucks County or needs a defense against attempt to elude an officer charges, they should contact an adept traffic attorney that could advocate for them.