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N.D.Ind.: Running dog around car while waiting for ID check was not unreasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Dog sniff of defendant’s car occurred while the officer was resolving the traffic stop and waiting for radio call back, so defendant was detained for it, but not extended because of it. United States v. McBride, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113405 (N.D. Ind. December 4, 2009): The Defendant makes much of the use of the dog, mostly as evidence that he was being detained and was not free to leave. The video does in fact show the Defendant backing away from something that is out of the camera's view with his hands in the air, and the officer telling him to come back and not to back into traffic. However, the fact that the Defendant was not free to leave is not a point of contention. When the dog performed the free air sniff around the car, the traffic violations were not yet resolved...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on December 09, 2009 (boomark / email).