Police violated a Rutland man’s constitutional rights when they stopped him because of a snow-covered license plate and then searched his car without probable cause, according to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont (ACLU-VT).
The suit, filed in Rutland Superior Court, alleges that police violated Greg Zullo’s right to be protected against unreasonable search and seizure. According to the lawsuit, Zullo was left stranded on the side of the road eight miles from home after police impounded his vehicle because a state trooper smelled marijuana but otherwise had no evidence of a crime. Police issued no warning or ticket for any offense, ACLU-VT alleges.
The suit questions whether the stop was legal as well as whether police can continue to use a “sniff test” when possessing small quantities of marijuana is no longer a crime. The state decriminalized possession of an ounce or less in 2013.
Zullo was driving through Wallingford in March when state trooper Lewis Hatch pulled him over, according to ACLU-VT. The pretext for the stop was that snow on Zullo’s back bumper made it difficult to read the validation sticker on his license plate, the suit alleges.
The trooper said he smelled a faint odor of burnt marijuana around Zullo’s car. Zullo said he had smoked it within the previous two or three days but not in his car, according to ACLU-VT.
Hatch ordered Zullo out of his car and asked to search the car, but Zullo refused. Police towed the vehicle to the police barracks and refused to give Zullo a ride home, ACLU-VT said. The trooper later obtained a warrant from Rutland Superior Court and found a grinder and pipe in the car that police claimed contained marijuana residue, according to ACLU-VT.
“As a result of all of this, Greg spent considerable time walking home in the cold, and spent hours waiting at the state police barracks to get his car back,” said Allen Gilbert, executive director of ACLU-VT. “To add insult to injury, the state police made him pay $150 for the tow, as if the situation was his fault.”
“The police must stop treating people like criminals if they suspect that a small amount of marijuana is involved,” said ACLU attorney Dan Barrett, who, with Stowe attorney Antonio Pyle, represents Zullo in the suit. “There is no such thing as probable cause to believe that a crime is being committed when the ‘crime’ is a civil offense. Civil offenses aren’t crimes.”
Court filings in the case are available on the ACLU-VT website. The video of the stop can be seen on YouTube.
Correction: The search warrant was obtained from Superior Court, not the Vermont Supreme Court.
