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OH2: Once purpose for stop was satisfied, defendant had to be given DL back and he could leave; keeping DL was unreasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant was stopped walking in an apartment complex after a caller told the police he was a “trespasser.” The officer had his DL and kept talking to him, and fairly quickly determined that he was not a trespasser. The officer kept his DL and kept talking to him, and another officer went to his car and looked inside, and then the officer questioned him about the contents of the car and three apparent pill bottles. The stop became unreasonable after the DL should have been given back and wasn’t. State v. Curtis, 2011 Ohio 1277, 2011 Ohio App. LEXIS 1103 (2d Dist. March 18, 2011). Officers were called to an apartment building about a woman dressed as a man selling drugs in the basement. They went to the basement area, and it was empty, and then the defendant came down the stairs, saw the officers, and then acted startled and suspicious...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 21, 2011 (boomark / email).