When does a legal detention become illegal?

Imagine a Thursday night after work, driving home, and seeing the police lights in the rear-view mirror. For most individuals, ordinary traffic stops are one of the main ways in which they will interact with an on-duty police officer.

During a traffic stop, the driver is legally detained. This is because an officer has restrained the driver’s liberty using their authority. In these situations, a reasonable person would not feel free to just ignore the officer’s commands and leave. Similarly, officers will also typically have reasonable suspicion of some offense, perhaps that the driver was speeding or not wearing their seat belt.

However, the presence of reasonable suspicion at the beginning of an encounter does not give an officer unrestricted freedom to do whatever they want during a detention. The Minnesota Supreme Court’s 2004 decision in State v. Askerooth explains under what circumstances an officer can expand the scope of a detention.

A police officer pulled Mr. Askerooth over for running a stop sign. After learning Mr. Askerooth did not have a driver’s license, the officer asked him to get out of his vehicle and conducted a routine pat-down search for weapons. The officer then detained Mr. Askerooth in his squad car so that he could confirm his identity.

With Mr. Askerooth’s consent, the officer then searched his vehicle but did not find any incriminating evidence. After the search, the officer issued citations for the driving offenses and told Mr. Askerooth that he was free to go. Following standard protocol, the officer then searched the back seat of his squad car and found drugs that Mr. Askerooth had hidden beneath the seat. As a result of this discovery, the State charged and convicted Mr. Askerooth with fifth-degree possession of drugs.

Mr. Askerooth’s defense attorney argued that the officer had violated Mr. Askerooth’s 4th Amendment rights. Specifically, the defense argued that the officer had unreasonably expanded the detention by putting Mr. Askerooth in the squad car and searching his car after being detained for a simple stop sign violation.

The Minnesota Supreme Court agreed and found that the scope and intensity of the traffic stop expanded far past the original reason for pulling Mr. Askerooth over. Most importantly, the Court established a legal standard Minnesota officers are supposed to follow to expand a detention. To expand a detention, the expansion must be tied to either (1) the original purpose of the stop, (2) independent probable cause, OR (3) reasonableness, as defined in Terry v. Ohio.

Ordinary traffic stops like Mr. Askerooth’s should not result in a violation of constitutional rights. If you are pulled over and believe the State has violated your rights, we are here to help you understand your options. When a simple traffic stop goes too far, police officers can undermine constitutional principles.

Today, it is not enough to simply know your rights; you need to understand how Courts have interpreted those rights in the past to understand how they apply to you today.

To protect your freedom, understand your rights.

[1] State v. Askerooth, 681 N.W.2d 353 (2004)

Legal Disclaimer: This information is provided for educational purposes and is not legal advice. If you have questions regarding a legal matter, please contact our office for assistance or reach out to an attorney who may be able to help you understand how the law may apply to different circumstances.