Well, did you get the officer's badge number and name? If your vehicle was illegally searched, that did in fact violate your constitutional rights. The same happened to me a while back. The officer asked if he could search my car. I replied "no." He then asked me what I was afraid of. The fact is that he had no probable cause to do so. I didn't have anything to hide, but one's rights should not be violated. He put me in the back of his car. He let me go after twenty minutes. The next day, I wrote a letter to the department citing his name and badge number. I am considering filing a federal suit, but don't know, but trust me, that letter did get some attention. I was written back a letter of apology and the officer was disciplined. You'd be surprised at the power of a letter. You should do so, and consult with an attorney if you wish to do so.
