NY Court of Appeals says officer lacked probable cause to stop car over excessively tinted windows

Did you know that New York has a law that prohibits excessively tinted car windows? It does. Did you know that the police can pull you over for violating that law? They can. This case implicates both rules, but the New York Court of Appeals rules in favor of the driver.

The case is People v. Nektalov, issued on May 16. Under the Vehicle & Traffic Law, "[n]o person shall operate any motor vehicle upon any public highway, road[,] or street" with windows which have a light transmittance of less than 70%. An automobile stop may be lawfully effectuated where law enforcement has "probable cause that a driver has committed" a traffic violation. The officer needs probable cause to stop the car.

In this case, the detective said the windows were "excessively tinted." But window tints, by themselves, are not against the law. They are only illegal if they violate the 70% rule. Since the detective did not testify that the windows were so dark that he could not see inside the car, or that he had the training and experience to know a 70% violation when he saw one, or that he measured the tint to confirm the windows were illegal.

In the end, the detective's testimony was too conclusory to support a finding of probable cause. What it means is that the vehicle stop was illegal, and the contraband the officer allegedly found in the car (drugs) is not admissible.