D.N.H.: Nervousness alone wasn’t enough to extend the stop 20 minutes

Defendant’s nervousness, exacerbated by the officer tailgating him for a long time, wasn’t enough to show reasonable suspicion to extend the stop as long as it was. All the government’s authorities are nervousness plus something else, and here there was nothing. United States v. Garcia, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143834 (D.N.H. October 9, 2014):

I conclude that while the defendants were certainly nervous — under the circumstances described even the most innocent and self-confident person would be expected to exhibit clear signs of nervous anxiety — their nervous manifestations were not so remarkable under the circumstances as to warrant some particular suspicion of ongoing wrongdoing, especially, again, given that Trooper Gacek likely knew that his own conduct (extended tailing) would likely induce a fair measure of nervousness in any driver or passenger subsequently pulled over. Thus, defendants’ nervousness, without more, did not provide Trooper Gacek with reasonable articulable suspicion to extend the traffic stop for another 20 minutes after he issued the traffic warning fully resolving the ostensible purpose of the stop. See McKoy, 428 F.3d at 40-41.