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CA10: Defendant's briefly backing up during stop was not a submission to authority

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Under Hodari D., defendant did not submit to the officer’s show of authority at first by backing up. By the time he did submit, the officer had reasonable suspicion. United States v. Salazar, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 12609 (10th Cir. June 21, 2010): Trooper Berner explained that, as Mr. Salazar's truck began to back away, he was concerned that "this vehicle [was] trying to allude [sic] me," Aplt's App. at 24, and that, at that point, "I'm not quite sure what he's doing or why he's doing what he's doing." Id. at 31. We find that assessment entirely reasonable. From the point of view of a "prudent, cautious, and trained officer[]," see Anderson, 154 F.3d at 1233, Mr. Salazar's backing up could have suggested a nascent attempt to flee, an effort to buy time so that he could dispose of contraband or formulate an explanation to provide to the officer, or simply a period of indecision before he determined what to do...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 22, 2010 (boomark / email).