GA: Officer’s ignoring dispatch that DL and paperwork were fine unreasonably extended stop

Defendant was stopped, acted somewhat nervous, and the officer called in the license check, which was complete in 2½ minutes. He ignored dispatch calling him back to prolong the stop, and that made the stop unreasonable because, since defendant’s paperwork was in order, the stop had to end with that. Bodiford v. State, 2014 Ga. App. LEXIS 520 (July 14, 2014):

The fact that dispatch might have been attempting to reach Hart simply for a status check, however, does not control our analysis. Rather, the question is whether Hart’s conduct in refusing contact with dispatch was reasonable, given the facts of which Hart did have knowledge. The facts known to Hart were that he had requested the license check; that he was waiting for dispatch to provide him with the results of that license check; and that if the check showed that Bodiford’s license was valid, the traffic stop would be at an end and Bodiford would be free to go. Given this knowledge, and in the absence of any extenuating circumstances, the Fourth Amendment’s requirement that Hart diligently pursue his investigation so as to minimize the time of a motorist’s detention meant that Hart was required to respond promptly to any efforts by dispatch to contact him.

The State argues that despite his knowledge that he was awaiting the results of Bodiford’s license check, Hart’s decision not to respond to dispatch was reasonable because poor radio reception meant that Hart could not communicate with dispatch via his shoulder-mounted radio and that requiring Hart to leave Bodiford unattended while he used his car radio would have presented an unreasonable danger to the officer. This argument is not supported by the record.

We first note that the trial court did not make any factual finding that Hart and the dispatcher were in fact experiencing problems communicating with each other. Rather, the trial court’s factual findings simply reflect the fact that Hart “advise[d] the dispatcher that he [was] in a bad area for radio traffic (i.e., cancels checks on him).”5 Moreover, we have carefully reviewed the testimony of record, and neither Hart nor the dispatcher testified that they were actually experiencing problems communicating with each other. Instead, both testified only that radio service was known to be poor on that part of I-75 where the traffic stop occurred, and Hart further testified that “90 percent of the time” officers in that area would need to use the radio in their patrol car to speak with dispatch. Additionally, the video shows that Hart and the dispatcher had no difficulty communicating with one another via Hart’s shoulder-mounted radio. The recording of the stop shows Hart standing on the side of the road, speaking into the radio and providing dispatch with Bodiford’s driver’s license information; the dispatcher does not indicate that she is having any problems understanding Hart, and she never asks Hart to repeat anything. Furthermore, the dispatcher can be heard very clearly on the radio attempting to contact Hart, and no static or other interference can be heard. Additionally, Hart had no problem communicating to dispatch that he was in a “bad spot” for radio.

Even construing the evidence as showing that Hart and the dispatcher were having problems communicating via Hart’s shoulder-mounted radio, however, there was no evidence of any extenuating circumstances, such as concern for officer safety, that prevented Hart from responding to dispatch by using the radio in his patrol car. The record shows that by the time dispatch attempted to contact him, Hart had frisked Bodiford for weapons and had found none. Additionally, Bodiford, who cooperated completely with Hart throughout the traffic stop, was standing away from his car and next to Hart’s patrol car as instructed by Hart. Accordingly, given the lack of extenuating circumstances, the fact that Hart and dispatch may have had some problems communicating over Hart’s shoulder-mounted radio did not relieve Hart of his responsibility to respond to dispatch before extending the traffic stop any further. The fact that Hart did not want to interrupt the process of retrieving the police dog, which was still in his patrol car, to respond to dispatch does not change this analysis.

Based on the facts of record, we find that Hart’s conduct unreasonably prolonged the traffic stop of Bodiford and that, absent a valid reason for extending the stop beyond the investigation of the traffic violation, the search of Bodiford’s car resulted from his illegal detention.