Woman Confronts Cops Searching Trash After Apple Airtag Ended Up There

There are tons of stories on social media of folks tracking down lost items with the help of Apple's handy-dandy AirTags. These little coin-shaped trackers make it super easy to slide them into your personal belongings and then use a smartphone computer, or any internet-connected device that has access to a web browser to help you find said AirTag.

There have been many recorded escapades involving people becoming their own private investigators, and it appears that even police officers are getting in on the action, like North Carolina cops who worked with a victim of theft who was ultimately able to find the crook who stole someone's backpack.

However, sometimes this over-zealousness in apprehending potential crooks can cross the line. At least that's what this one woman thought in a viral TikTok that shows a person going off on local police for searching her brother's trash cans. The reason? They say they tracked an Apple AirTag to that location.

In a viral TikTok uploaded by @amoralee06, the TikToker writes: "I hope this department gets sued search a house with no warrant all for an AirTag"

In the clip, a woman can be seen approaching officers and asking them what they're doing.

The woman identifies herself as a sibling of the owner and says that the cops need to tell her what's going on. At first, it seems that the police officers are reluctant to divulge the nature of their investigation to the woman.

"You don't live here you don't need to know right now," the cop tells her, to which she responds, "Actually, I do."

The clip, which is taken from body camera footage from the officer, then cuts to the cop explaining that the individual in front of her brother's house had a bag stolen from his car.

The cop says that the AirTag's location indicated it was "somewhere between [the] two houses" they were searching. She asks, "You know who lives in the other houses?" The officer informs the woman that they're talking with those residents about the stolen bag while they conduct their investigation at the woman's brother's home.

"That's fine, but don't go searching through my brother's garbage can — y'all don't have the right to do that. Y'all know better than that because y'all police officers."

The cop tells her that they do indeed have the authority to search the exterior waste bins if they choose to do so.

The woman says that they are illegally conducting a search before the clip ultimately cuts to the officers searching a home.

A text overlay states that the cops on the premises use that they smell marijuana as an "excuse" to search the home. A man leaves the building, and he calls to the woman, whom he names Teisha, that the cops are stating they smell weed. This sends Teisha into a fury as she says she doesn't smell marijuana. She repeatedly states that they don't have the right to enter the home.

"My brother don't smoke weed so it don't smell like weed in here," she shouts after inviting other officers to come into the home to see if they smell marijuana. "Get out of my brother's house before I call a motherf***ing lawyer!" she screams. At this point the officer asks her to put her hands behind her back and then they cuff her. She immediately complies, "OK, that's fine."

She instructs her brother (Mario) to tell them that they don't have the right to go into her house, which he states on camera. "Tell them they do not have the right to search the house without a search warrant," the woman yells at her brother. "We are not searching the house," an officer can be heard saying off-camera.

"Well you guys were just in there without his permission after we told you not to be in there stop breaking motherf***ing laws and this will be a lot simpler," Teisha retorts.

Mario tells them that they can search the bathroom for the AirTag if they like but then they can come right back out.

The woman gets taken away by an officer on the scene as other cops show up on the property. Body camera footage from a second video gets to the bottom of where the items were found. The individual who tracked it to the property is told by the officer: "A large majority of the property from your backpack was just located on Cleveland."

Which means that most of the contents were found in a separate location. The officer continues, "it'll be back at the Police Department at some point today." The young man, who was the victim of the theft, seems upset that the contents of his backpack were "scattered."

The officer continues: "While checking the residence making sure no one else was in there, we found your backpack. In terms of the property, we're currently applying for a search warrant for the house. So we have to wait for that to get your bag," he tells the young man.

There were a number of TikTokers who were outraged that Mario wasn't listening to his sister, Teisha. Judging from the conversation authorities had with the young man in the vehicle, it appears that the backpack with the Airtag was found in Mario's home.