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N.D.Okla.: Taking the defendant's ID is a seizure of the person because no one would feel free to leave

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The encounter with the defendants started out consensual. Although the officer did not tell them they were free to leave, it was conversational. Once the officer had IDs in hand and walked to his police car to call them in, it was a seizure. “[A]s the Tenth Circuit has explained, no reasonable person having had his identification taken away would have felt free to terminate the encounter.” United States v. Lopez, 443 F.3d 1280, 1285 (10th Cir. 2006). Turning to reasonable suspicion, the court finds that defendant’s “actions” in a high crime area were reasonable suspicion [but, boy, is this really thin]. United States v. Matthews, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116791 (N.D. Okla. November 1, 2010). The court credits from the videotape that the driver understood English enough to consent to the search of his vehicle...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on November 06, 2010 (boomark / email).