Police 'Badger Stops' Challenged In Indiana
VALPARAISO, Ind. (STMW) -- The legality of police systematically stopping drivers for traffic offenses, then searching vehicles, could go before the Indiana Supreme Court because of a Northwest Indiana case.
Attorney Bob Harper is trying to get the state's highest court to rule on evidence from a drug trafficking case before the case even goes to trial in Porter County. But first, an appellate court must approve the move to the Supreme Court. The date to rule has not been set.
Harper is arguing that 2,380 grams of cocaine in a white Chevrolet van was found illegally because his client, Isabelle Almodovar, 36, of Chicago, was not informed of her rights before she consented to a search.
"I think these 'badger stops' are unconstitutional," said Harper, referring to officers spending the day stopping drivers for minor traffic violations, then asking to search the vehicles.
If drivers are formally in custody, police officers are required to inform them of their rights, he said.
However, the officers detain the drivers in their squad with what Harper portrays as lengthy questioning.
The drivers are separated from passengers, who are also questioned, then released with a warning or a ticket.
As an apparent afterthought, the officer asks to search the vehicle, and because the drivers aren't in custody, they're not told they can refuse or have a lawyer present.
"Some guys do this all day and make maybe five arrests a year," Harper said. "There are a lot of innocent people being put through this"
Porter County Prosecutor Brian Gensel disagreed with Harper's characterization of the stops, which have led to many arrests for trafficking large amounts of drugs through Northwest Indiana.
Officers are trained to look for signs of trafficking but can only make a stop for a reasonable traffic violation, Gensel said. That could be going 1 mph over the speed limit, but the driver must do something wrong, he added.
In Almovodar's case, Lake County Sheriff's Police stopped her in May 2008 driving eastbound Ion Interstate 90 after she changed lanes without signaling, then slowed from 70 mph to 42 mph when she noticed police behind her.
After the officer questioned Almodovar, he asked permission to search the van as she walked back to it, and he videotaped her commenting about the search while she was in his squad.
His report mentions pine tree air fresheners and fabric sheets in the van and states she sprayed perfume when he stopped her, all presumably to hide the scent of drugs.
Almodovar faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted of felony dealing in cocaine, and if the Supreme Court agrees the drugs are inadmissible, the case has little other evidence.
Judge William Alexa of Porter County Superior Court 2 allowed Harper to file an appeal before the trial to ask for the Supreme Court ruling just before the case would have gone to trial Nov. 29.
Alexa already denied Harper's motion to suppress the evidence in August.
-- Post-Tribune, via the Sun-Times Media Wire
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2010. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
