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CA6: Nervousness and reaching under seat were not reasonable suspicion

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Nervousness with reaching under seat alone were not sufficient for reasonable suspicion. The court analyzed at length the purported justification of the license plate light being out, which the court noted was working in the video of the stop, but still did not second guess it. [Instead, it appears that the court was trying to find a way to suppress the search for an alternative reason rather than call the officer a liar.] United States v. Blair, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 13216, 2008 FED App. 0171P (6th Cir. May 2, 2008): We are left with Officer Holmes's testimony that Blair was unusually nervous and was reaching under the seats. As we previously have noted, nervousness is "an unreliable indicator, especially in the context of a traffic stop. Many citizens become nervous during a traffic stop, even when they have nothing to hide or fear...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 24, 2008 (boomark / email).