I figured as much Zero Hedge is dodgy and the wise latina is always wrong. There must be more to the story that they are leaving out.
Key points of the case:
- The officer observed a vehicle traveling at night with one headlight out. The officer stopped the vehicle thinking that the headlamp was a violation.
- During the stop, the officer asked the driver to search the vehicle. The driver consented and the officer found contraband. The officer then arrested the driver.
- Driver talks to lawyer, finds out that one headlamp out is NOT a violation and attempts to throw the whole thing out based on what he thinks is an “illegal” stop.
- However, in the SCOTUS ruling in “Terry vs Ohio” an officer does NOT need probable cause to initiate a stop of an individual. The requirement is actually “reasonably articulate suspicion (RAS)”.
This ruling simply applies that same level of RAS to a traffic stop.