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"I don't think the dog should have been in my car," Jonothan Bridges said.

ILLEGAL DOG SEARCH?

Rebecca Lopez reports

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ADDISON — A teen pulled over in Addison for an expired inspection sticker said he believes his car was illegally sniffed out by a police dog.

Jonothan Bridges was pulled over by Officer Byron Tilton and given a ticket for the expired sticker. The incident was all captured on the officer's patrol car dash cam video.

"Sir, you have anything illegal in your vehicle that I should be aware of ? Weapons, illegal drugs [or] anything like that?" Tilton can be heard asking on the video.

"No," Bridges replied.

Then, Tilton asked Bridges the same question again, in which the teen once again responded, "No."

"Mind if I take a look just for my satisfaction?" the officer asked.

"Yea, it's my vehicle," Bridges responded. "I would mind."

The officer then went to his patrol car and took out his police dog, which sniffed around the outside of the car. The dog even jumped inside the car and stayed there for nearly one minute.

Bridges said his father, a Dallas police officer, believes it was an illegal search.

"I told the officer 'no' because that's my right that I have to do that," Bridges said. "And apparently he didn't like that because he still let the dog get in my car and stuff. I don't think the dog should have been in my car."

Addison police say otherwise. They said the drug dog alerted, and it's not a search if the dog enters the car on his own.

"The most important point is that a police dog sniffing the exterior of your car, or interior of the car if it's open, does not constitute a search," said David Margulies, an spokesman for the Town of Addison. "His reaction or her reaction does constitute probable cause for the officer to search the vehicle."

While some court rulings do say if a dog enters a vehicle on its on it is okay, Bridges said he believes the officer may have given the dog a signal.

An internal affairs review has cleared the officer, but Bridges said he may challenge that decision in court.

E-mail rlopez@wfaa.com