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CA6: Continuation of stop was without RS; dog alerted and search suppressed

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The officer lacked reasonable suspicion to keep detaining defendant as long as he did until a drug dog could arrive at the scene. The defendant was followed by another officer for 16 miles who saw no traffic offense, so he called ahead to this officer who ultimately stopped him. United States v. Bonilla, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 28026, 2009 FED App. 0816N (6th Cir. December 21, 2009) (unpublished) (2-1)*: The instant case lacks any strong indicators of criminal conduct other than minor actions by Bonilla that are generally present when a driver is pulled over. Bonilla's failure to promptly provide the officer with his passenger's correct information was not particularly indicative of criminal activity. Thus, the totality of the circumstances did not give rise to a reasonable suspicion that Bonilla was transporting drugs in his vehicle at the moment when Bemis stopped writing the traffic citation and placed Bonilla and his passenger in police cruisers...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on December 26, 2009 (boomark / email).