Hello,

I'm hoping to find some help clarifying a traffic code statute. I supervise an officer who detained a person (actually people) recently based upon the following circumstances:

Officer drives through convenience store parking lot and notices a van with its hood up and three people standing near hood, one of which is adding water to the radiator. He drives by and asks if everything is okay. One of the men replies that the girl next to him just bought the van and they were trying to make it to a certain city. At this point, Officer notices an expired registration sticker and that no inspection sticker is displayed. The Officer drives around for a minute, then returns and approaches the three people. He verifies that the owner is present and inquires as to who had just driven the van. He then identifies them both. To make a long story short, the Officer later explains that he detained (and identified) the owner based upon her violation of TRC 502.002,web page

I included the relevant portion of this statute and the "General Penalty" statute below.

My question is whether 502.002 actually describes an enforceable traffic violation, and if so, do the facts above constitute reasonable suspicion that the owner violated the statute?

Thanks in advance for any help,
Kevin Johnson

TRC� 502.002. REGISTRATION REQUIRED; GENERAL RULE.

quote:

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The owner of a motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer shall apply for the registration of the vehicle for each registration year in which the vehicle is used or to be used on a public highway; and if the vehicle is unregistered for a registration year that has begun and that applies to the vehicle and if the vehicle is used or to be used on a public highway, the remaining portion of that registration year.

The application must be made to the department through the county assessor-collector of the county in which the owner resides...

502.401. GENERAL PENALTY. A person commits an offense if the person violates a provision of this chapter and no other penalty is prescribed for the violation. This section does not apply to a violation of Section 502.003, 502.101, 502.109, 502.112, 502.113, 502.114, 502.152,
502.164, or 502.282. An offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $200.

Hey there, KJ!

I think your officer is fine; he just needed reasonable suspicion to detain and he had that with the statements by the people there (during the initial consensual encounter) and his personal observations of an expired registration and no inspection sticker.

Thanks Gretchen! Hope you're doing well. This particular application seemed kind of murky to me. Maybe it wasn't as unclear as I originally thought.

thanks,
KJ