An attorney for Paris Hilton's boyfriend raised questions about whether Las Vegas police were justified in pulling over her SUV Friday night, prompting the actress' arrest for allegedly possessing cocaine.
Hilton was arrested Saturday with her boyfriend, Las Vegas nightclub operator Cy Waits, who was driving the black SUV stopped by police at 11:22 p.m. Friday after they smelled marijuana.
A police lieutenant found 0.8 grams of cocaine in a purse Hilton was carrying, officials said. Based on the police report, she is expected to be charged with felony drug possession by Clark County prosecutors.
Hilton denied that the purse was hers but said other items inside, including asthma medication, credit cards and $1,300 in cash, were hers, officials said.
Waits' attorney, Richard Schonfeld, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he believes the stop was improper. He said he does not think there was evidence Watt broke any traffic laws or was driving in an impaired manner. Therefore, he said, police had no cause to search the SUV.
He said he was "troubled" by the way the stop was handled.
A police report said Waits failed a field sobriety test.
Hilton and Waits were stopped near the Wynn Hotel, where a crowd gathered as officers prepared to search the Cadillac Escalade for narcotics, according to the police report. Hilton told the officers she needed to use the bathroom and was escorted into the hotel where the cocaine was allegedly found in Hilton's purse.
-- Richard Winton