DES MOINES – An officer conducting a traffic stop who discovers his reason for the stop is without merit must allow the driver to go free, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled this week.
In a case verdict released this week, the Iowa Supreme Court considered whether a law enforcement officer, after making a valid traffic stop supported by reasonable suspicion that an offense may being committed, must terminate the stop when the underlying reason for the stop is no longer present.
In this specific case, an Eldridge, Iowa police officer was randomly checking license plates in 2014. He encountered a vehicle that was registered to a woman who had a suspended driver’s license, but couldn’t tell whether the driver was a man or woman. The officer stopped the car and found that a man was driving, Jayel Coleman, and then arrested him for driving while barred. Coleman’s case made it to the Supreme Court.
The majority of justices (4-3) ruled that under the result in this case, the officer should have allowed the Coleman to go on his way after the resolution of the reason for the stop; he was not the person the officer originally sought in the stop. The majority ruled that under the search and seizure provision of article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution, the stop must end when reasonable suspicion is no longer present.
The court concluded that when the reason for a traffic stop is resolved and there is no other basis for reasonable suspicion, article I, section 8 of the Iowa Constitution requires that the driver must be allowed to go his or her way without further ado.