Lawsuit: Man Arrested, Searched For Marijuana Solely For Having Colorado License Plate

CBS Seattle ^ | March 28, 2014 | Benjamin Fearnow

[CedarDave]

Boise, Idaho (CBS SEATTLE) – An Idaho state trooper arrested and fully searched a 70-year-old Washington man’s vehicle solely because he had a Colorado license plate – a state where marijuana is legal – a federal “license plate profiling” lawsuit alleges.

Darien Roseen was driving along I-84 between his second home in Colorado and Washington state on Jan. 25 when Idaho State Trooper Justin Klitch “immediately” pulled out from the Interstate median and began “rapidly accelerating” to catch up to Roseen, according to the complaint in a Courthouse News Service report. Exiting at a designated rest area, Roseen says he became “uncomfortable” that Klitch had followed him though he had not “done anything wrong.”

~~ snip ~~

“At no point did Trooper Klitch’s line of questioning relate to Mr. Roseen’s alleged improper driving pattern,” the complaint states. “Instead, Trooper Klitch immediately accused Mr. Roseen of transporting something illegal.”

Roseen’s attorney, Mark Coonts, told Courthouse News that his client’s constitutional rights were given no regard.

“We believe that Americans should be able to travel interstate highways without being harassed and unlawfully detained because of license-plate profiling,” said Coonts. “Our client, Mr. Roseen, is a 70-year-old retiree who was returning from his daughter’s baby shower. He was stopped in Idaho and deprived of his constitutional rights because he was driving a car with a license plate from a state that ISP associated with marijuana.”

[BykrBayb]

The cop deliberately makes his victim nervous, then calls that nervousness probable cause. It isn’t.

[bert]

the colorado tag and the pot law are probable cause

[Ghost of SVR4]

Your entire post can be summed up thus, intimidation.
Go lick a boot.

[andyk]

Basically, a cop sits on the tail of a car with Colorado plates and then the driver starts acting suspiciously. That is a profiling all good cops do. Get you nervous and see how you react. If the driver had just kept going down the road at the same speed in the right lane, there isn’t a darn thing the cop could have done to him, legally. Instead, he acted in a suspicious manner, pulling off the highway.

Now, is that alone enough to warrant reasonable suspicion on the part of the cop? No, probably not. Cops make a lot of honest people nervous when sitting on their tail. A lot of people would probably pull over at some point just to see if the cop is really following them or just driving behind them.

Bingo, we have a winner. The cop was actly coply. This is what society has asked for with the War on Drugs and existing DUI laws.

But seriously, never allow a search. That's just stupid. Most other FReepers seem to know - never ask if you're under arrest, always ask if you're free to go. Only do that as a last resort when events have unfolded, and you have no idea why you're still being held.

Don't be obsequious and call the officer "sir" or "ma'am". Use their title - deputy, sheriff, officer, etc. When in doubt, default to officer and let them correct you if their ego requires it.

If they ask you to give them information, ask if it's okay to unbuckle your seatbelt. Tell them "my drivers license is located here". Wait for them to tell you to go ahead. Tell them, "the registration and insurance is located here". Again, wait for them to acknowledge before reaching for items. Where are your hands when you're communicating with them? Gee.

When pulling over, pull to the shoulder and slow to a crawl, then pull over a little more. You don't want them getting swiped by a car. More importantly, you want them to know you don't want them getting swiped by a car.

[STYRO]

“There are repercussions for Colorado’s decisions”.
One of the repercussions will be to attract lots of Democrats to Colorado. As if there weren’t too many already....

[driftless2]

I think every leftist with a decal-plastered Subaru would be wary of driving through Idaho.

On a side note, today as we were out driving, the wife and I got behind a Subaru with leftist decals plastered all over the rear. I had been making jokes about leftist Subaru drivers to the wife only to be tut-tutted for profiling Subarus. "Not every Subaru driver is a leftist wacko" said my wife. Today I was laughing hysterically as she stared daggers at me.

[BykrBayb]

Louisana has the highest murder rate, so cops should pull over everyone from Louisana and check their trunks for dead bodies.

[TigersEye]

Make my day, officer! Give me a fat bank account for my senior years.

[Eagles6]

More of an award then. I see.

I've been contemplating acquiring an unpleasant canine from the pound. One that I won't become attached to and will garner the attention of the JBTs in any encounter, rather than me

A sacrifice, as it were, to satiate their blood lust.

[bigheadfred]

No mention of a dash cam. Surely such a competent officer has this all on video. No mention of a field sobriety test.

They're not. Sounds like the guy entered a freeway without his turn signal on (according to the cop, but come on you see it every day). Sorry folks, you want law enforcement out there "saving lives", this is how they do it. This is how they enforce DUI laws. You all knew that, right? They use every day violations to pull people over and ask them about other things.

[bert]

no, no..... the Mississippi or Texas cops would have that probable cause

[Leaning Right]

Both sides of the law operate the same way...
Do you understand what you just said there?

Don’t sound naive.
If wanting to be left alone when I'm doing nothing wrong is naive, yep, I'm naive.

It is part of a GOOD cop’s job to profile people and then study how they react.
That sentence doesn't make sense. Replace "profile" with "pressure", and it would make sense. But I still wouldn't agree with it.

[null and void]

I’ve driven both a Subaru and a Volvo.

Here, that’s called protective coloration...

[chiefqc]

Good thing he had no dog in the car.

[null and void]

That’s soooooo sick, and soooooo wise.

[Vendome]

[FredZarguna]

You know why the Miss Black America has only 49 contestants then, I take it?

[Focault's Pendulum]

we now know the cop was right to profile him, as he did have Marijuana in the car.

Where the fu@#k did you read that?

[Focault's Pendulum]

Never mind. You already apologized.

[MileHi]

Nice...