Thursday, March 11, 2021

Any traffic violation can provide reasonable suspicion for a stop

United States v. Meadows, 970 F.3d 1338 (10th Cir. 2020) (fourth amendment – traffic stop) An officer stopped Ms. Meadows because he believed the window-tint was too dark. Of course, he found drugs and paraphernalia. Ms. Meadows argued that since Utah decriminalized traffic violations, there was no reasonable suspicion for the stop (because no crime). The Tenth Circuit was having none of that. Traffic violations even if only civil penalty still give cops reasonable suspicion to stop people.