Courts have continually said pretextual stops are a cool way to engage in law enforcement fishing expeditions. But there are a few caveats.
First, there needs to be a reason to stop the person, even if that reason exists largely in the imaginative readings of local statutes by police officers. Second, the stop cannot be unreasonably extended past the point of its objective. When you hand out a citation or tell someone they’re free to go, they’re free to go. You can’t keep them detained while trying to find other ways to talk them into warrantless searches.
Finally, when you’re asked to defend your actions in court, your pretext had better hold up. And you had damn well better make sure you’re not recording evidence that contradicts your claims. That’s a fatal error, and one that appears to have been committed by two Louisiana cops now being sued by the people they pulled over, with the assistance of the Institute for Justice.
Mario Rosales and his girlfriend were driving through Alexandria, Louisiana when cops decided to pull them over. Prior to this stop, Rosales had stopped at a red light, signaled his intent to make a left hand turn, and made a legal left hand turn (with his blinker on) when the light turned green. All of this was dispassionately observed by the dash cam in Officer Samuel Terrell’s SUV.
