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The kid was technically within his rights, but he expressed them in such a rude, confrontational way...

How is "I don't wish to discuss my personal life with you officer" rude and confrontational? If he'd responded "None of your (bleep) business, jerk", I'd admit that was rude and confrontational. But how would you have suggested he more politely decline to answer the question.

In my opinion, the cop's original question about where the kid was heading, was just a throwaway question. An attempt to make conversation. If this had happened to me, I'd have given him a throwaway answer and there are a thousand and one such answers one can give. They don't even have to be truthful. "To the store to get some milk", "to a buddy's place", "home", "to a movie", etc etc. No big deal.

Now if the cop persists with his line of questioning, and asks you where you live, how long you've lived there, what you do for a living, how often you drive at that hour, etc, etc, then one would perhaps be justified in politely inquiring the reason for the questioning and if necessary, declining to answer.

But to hit the nuke button, straight off the bat like the kid did and to tell the cop you don't wish to talk to him, is what I'd call unreasonable, as I said in my first post.

This wasn't a power grab by the cop. It was just a simple remark. What did it cost for the kid to offer a perfunctory reply in the first instance before discerning whether the cop really was pushing the envelope?

Are we all now operating on hair triggers, with enormous chips on our shoulders?