Some questions regarding a traffic stop

[CM14]

I was driving down the interstate (Texas) when I got pulled over for speeding. I had picked up a hitchhiker a few miles ago (it was very cold and I felt bad for the guy). The officer conducting the traffic stop asked me to step out of the vehicle, where he asked me who my passenger was. I told him he was a hitchhiker, and I was told it was not only dangerous but also illegal to pick up hitchhikers. He then asked me if he could search the vehicle, to which I consented.

After everything was done, the officer just gave me a ticket for speeding and told me that he (the hitchhiker) had priors and had "residue of marijuana" with his belongings and that if he found marijuana I could've ended up going to jail. So the questions are:

1. Is it illegal to pick up hitchhikers?
2. Is it illegal to ask for a ride (ie: hitchhike)?
3. Could I have been arrested if drugs were found with him, or if he threw them elsewhere in my car?

Thank you

[Sgt. Slaughter]

I was driving down the interstate (Texas) when I got pulled over for speeding. I had picked up a hitchhiker a few miles ago (it was very cold and I felt bad for the guy). The officer conducting the traffic stop asked me to step out of the vehicle, where he asked me who my passenger was. I told him he was a hitchhiker, and I was told it was not only dangerous but also illegal to pick up hitchhikers. He then asked me if he could search the vehicle, to which I consented.

After everything was done, the officer just gave me a ticket for speeding and told me that he (the hitchhiker) had priors and had "residue of marijuana" with his belongings and that if he found marijuana I could've ended up going to jail. So the questions are:

1. Is it illegal to pick up hitchhikers?
2. Is it illegal to ask for a ride (ie: hitchhike)?
3. Could I have been arrested if drugs were found with him, or if he threw them elsewhere in my car?

Thank you

1. Why do you think the officer would lie to you? Surely if he said it's illegal, it must be. Have you Googled "Texas hitchhiking"?
2. If it's illegal to pick up hitchhikers one would think it's illegal to hitchhike. #1 and #2 may also stem from it being unsafe to have pedestrians on the highway. It's also unsafe to stop on the side of the road as well.
3. If he threw them in your car, absolutely.

A family friend I knew and stayed with as a child was murdered several years ago by a hitchhiker. He did the same thing you did, however he took pity upon the man due to the Arizona heat. The world is not the place it used to be. Be careful picking up people you don't know.

[GoDirectly2Jail]

If an officer told you it was illegal, why would you have more confidence in the answers given to you by random internet strangers?

[kels]

1. In some places it is.
2. Dont know.
3. Yes

[CM14]

If an officer told you it was illegal, why would you have more confidence in the answers given to you by random internet strangers?

Because from what I've seen by searching the Internet, Texas doesn't seem to prohibit hitchhiking.

Texas law relating to hitchhiking is similar to the Uniform Vehicle Code (UVC). This means that it is legal to hitchhike from the shoulder of a highway if there is not a 'Pedestrians prohibited' sign.

(I can't post url's here, but it's the 1st or 2nd link when I google "texas hitchhiking")

[Sgt. Slaughter]

Read more Google results until you find the actual Texas statute.

[GoDirectly2Jail]

That is a pro-hitchhiking site, which seems to rest it's entire legality stance on the definition of "roadway", and the definition it quotes is only applicable to section 541 of Texas Statutes. The hitchhiking prohibition is found in 552.007:

(a) A person may not stand in a roadway to solicit a ride, contribution, employment, or business from an occupant of a vehicle, except that a person may stand in a roadway to solicit a charitable contribution if authorized to do so by the local authority having jurisdiction over the roadway.

By that statute, hitchhiking IS illegal.