Benchmarks: Driver’s avoidance of checkpoint justified stop 
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: April 15, 2013
Tags: checkpoint, search and seizure, traffic stop
It’s seems a fair assumption that a driver who attempts to reverse course to avoid a police checkpoint has something to hide.
Friday, the North Carolina Supreme Court made clear that such maneuvering does in fact give rise to reasonable suspicion for police to initiate a traffic stop.
Benchmarks: Flipped-off cop couldn’t initiate traffic stop
By:
Pat Murphy
Published: January 4, 2013
Tags: Fourth Amendment, probable cause, reasonable suspicion, search and seizure, traffic stop, §1983
The 2nd Circuit yesterday revived the civil rights suit of a man who was stopped and arrested after flipping off a police officer he observed manning a speed trap.
N.Y. officers couldn’t ask about guns during traffic stop
Published: December 28, 2012
Tags: criminality, traffic stop
New York police officers conducting a lawful traffic stop needed a “founded suspicion of criminality” before asking the vehicle’s occupants whether they were armed, New York’s highest court has ruled.
Unused turn signal doesn’t create reasonable suspicion for traffic stop
Published: October 25, 2012
Tags: Fourth Amendment, reasonable suspicion, search and seizure, traffic stop
Driving through an intersection without turning or changing lanes even though the turn signal was on does not constitute a traffic violation, and therefore the officer who pulled the defendant over did not have reasonable suspicion to effect a traffic stop, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled.
Benchmarks: Do minor lane deviations justify traffic stop?
Published: July 11, 2012
Tags: drunk driving, Fourth Amendment, search and seizure, traffic stop
One of the heavyweights has weighed in on a question that has divided courts across the country: Does a police officer’s observation of minor lane violations justify a traffic stop under the Fourth Amendment?
Police couldn’t stop car leaving site of meth lab
Published: July 2, 2012
Tags: Fourth Amendment, methamphetamine, search and seizure, traffic stop
Police could not stop a vehicle only because it emerged from the site of a suspected methamphetamine lab, the 7th Circuit has ruled in reversing the denial of a motion to suppress.
Traffic stop for speeding violated Fourth Amendment
Published: June 28, 2012
Tags: Fourth Amendment, probable cause, search and seizure, traffic stop
A police officer did not have probable cause for a traffic stop because he relied solely on his visual estimate that the driver was traveling 75 mph in a 70-mph zone, the 4th Circuit has ruled in reversing a drug conviction.
Police ‘mistake’ doesn’t require suppression of evidence
Published: August 2, 2011
Tags: Fourth Amendment, motion to suppress, search and seizure, traffic stop
A drunk driving defendant could not suppress evidence on the basis that a police officer stopped his vehicle under the mistaken belief that it lacked valid license tags, the Utah Supreme Court has ruled.
Defendant’s brother’s ‘bad acts’ must be excluded
Published: April 29, 2011
Tags: protective order, traffic stop
At a criminal trial for stalking and violating a protective order, the district court erred by allowing the prosecution to introduce evidence of the defendant’s brother’s “bad acts,” as well as evidence from a subsequent traffic stop, the 2nd Circuit has ruled.
Police couldn’t order passenger to exit car
Published: April 22, 2011
Tags: marijuana, traffic stop
Police couldn’t order a passenger to exit an automobile based on detecting the odor of burnt marijuana, Massachusetts’ highest court has ruled in affirming a suppression order.
