examining the totality of the circumstances the officer articulated and determining that the appellant's inconsistent statements to the officer about the vehicle rental, his destination, the duration of his travel, as well as his nervousness, all supported a finding that the officer had reasonable suspicion to detain the appellant
How later courts described this case
- examining the totality of the circumstances the officer articulated and determining that the appellant's inconsistent statements to the officer about the vehicle rental, his destination, the duration of his travel, as well as his nervousness, all supported a finding that the officer had reasonable suspicion to detain the appellant
- noting the asking of incriminating questions is irrelevant to the totality of the circumstances in determining whether the person was detained
- finding the driver's nervousness along with other factors supported a finding of reasonable suspicion
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
C. JOHNSON, Judge,
Specially Concur.
T1 I concur in the Court's disposition of this case. The trial court seemed disturbed by the fact that the officer either had changed his mind about letting the motorist go about his business, or had never really intended to let the motorist leave, and was simply hoping the motorist would consent to a vehicle search. Whether such conduct on the part of police might be unreasonable, under some other fact pattern, is an issue this Court can leave for another day. In my view, the officer had plenty of reasonable suspicion to detain the motorist for additional investigation before that point in their encounter. The details of the motorist's trip, as initially related by him, were at odds with information the officer obtained from the car-rental company. The motorist then changed his story to accommodate these new facts. The motorist's story simply did not add up, and warranted additional investigation. There was no unreasonable delay in that effort, as a drug-sniffing dog was already on the scene, and its reaction to the vehicle quickly provided probable cause for a full-blown arrest.