This, if you dont have anything to hide whats the issue with him searching the car?

Anyone who knows me knows I don't do drugs, I don't drive around with open alcohol containers in my car (and with the exception of a few dumb childish mistakes I don't drink and drive), I don't drive around with weapons in my cars (which is not to say that many tools I carry for work reasons couldn't be viewed as weapons) but it would be a cold day in hell before I allowed a cop to just go threw my vehicle looking for something when left with a option of saying no, why some may ask and the reason is, because I refuse to let someone push me into a corner with threats of what might happen if I don't bitch up and let them do whatever they want. If everyone said well, I don't want to upset the officer and have him come down harder on me because of it, the laws that where made to protect our rights now carry no weight what so ever.

I have been in situations where I was having my car searched no matter what I said and usually it was left with me putting my stuff back in my car on the side of the road and going home, I also don't have anything against Police officers in general, I have met a few that I honestly think shouldn't be in that profession cause you give them a little bit of power and it goes to there head but most officers are just regular people trying to earn a buck, stay safe and keep neighborhoods safe. Its the bad one's that you will usually run into that spread the horror stories and that lead to cop bashing and its there fellow officers who should do something about it IMO. Good luck in court.

Just my 2 cents.

Would you let an officer search your house because you had a light bulb out on the outside of it?

IF things truly went down the way the OP said then the cop was wrong, there's no reason to search the car other than to be a prick.

I have had my car searched before without my permission and I have to admit it really sucks, the officer also gave me extra tickets and "gave me a break" by not giving me an evading ticket that was completely unjustified. I also got 110 in a 55 when I was only going about 80, the cop was NEVER, not even for one second, behind me. He never put on his lights, nor used the siren, I didnt even know he was around until I turned down a side street and he finally got behind me.

He gave me the 110 because that is how fast he had to go to catch me, he was a complete P.O.S. to me and I can understand some of the sentiments that have been presented in this thread. Some people should not have the power of the badge behind them, they take it waaay too far.

To the O.P. you should definitely get a lawyer for the reckless, especially if it went down like you said. The judge has you bent over holding your ankles with this ticket. A laywer will probably be able to get the ticket thrown out of court and get you to just pay for the headlight, repairs. I got a reckless and the judge TRICKED me at my arainment (sp?) and I lost my license for 60 days. If I had gotten a laywer I could have probably avoided all of that, but I didnt know what was going on.

I dont think were getting the whole story, Ive had my car searched before, wasnt a big deal.

I don't think we are either, that's why I kept saying "if", lol. I understand the OP's point. Regardless if I don't have anything to hide I don't want people going through my ****. Unfortunately refusing comes with unnecessary consequences.

I got searched once, twas amusing to watch him come out with nothing. Cops CAN be dickheads, hell..on saturday my car broke down and it ended up getting towed and ticketed for "Failure to park off of roadway" which was a rural road with me completely off of concrete and over a hundred yards from a home. It's all about money and egos...

Good luck with removing the points, really mean it