IN: Motorist’s request to see whether his taillight was really broken out didn’t justify frisk

When an officer stops a motorist for a taillight lens being broken out, the motorist’s request to see it because he thought it was only cracked didn’t justify a patdown. State v. Cunningham, 2014 Ind. App. LEXIS 81 (February 27, 2014):

Here, there is no evidence of hostility, aggressiveness, furtive movements, or anything of that nature on Cunningham’s part prior to the pat-down search, or at any time during the traffic stop for that matter. Cunningham was the only occupant of the vehicle, and another officer was on the scene backing up Officer Hammock when the pat-down occurred. Cunningham merely asked to see the broken-out tail lamp because he thought it was only cracked, not completely broken. There was nothing inherently threatening in that request, and Officer Hammock did not testify as to feeling threatened. Instead, he seems to have stated that he would pat down Cunningham if he left the vehicle out of a generalized concern for “officer safety” without any particular facts that would indicate such a concern. If Officer Hammock believed it was more dangerous for Cunningham to be outside of his vehicle than inside of it, he could have taken the less-invasive step of ordering him to stay inside. There was not sufficient reasonable suspicion that Cunningham was armed and dangerous that would support a pat-down search in the absence of Cunningham’s consent.