Ruse checkpoint stop with nervousness and no license is reasonable suspicion

Exiting freeway at a ruse checkpoint with nerviousness and no license is reasonable suspicion for continuing a stop. United States v. Loya, 528 F.3d 546 (8th Cir. 2008):

In this case, the circumstances known to the trooper when he questioned Lopez and Loya about guns-and-drugs and sought permission to search the vehicle were that: the vehicle exited the interstate at a ruse checkpoint, see United States v. Carpenter, 462 F.3d 981, 987 (8th Cir. 2006), cert. denied, 127 S. Ct. 2029, 167 L. Ed. 2d 772 (2007) (exiting just after checkpoint signs may be considered as one factor in the totality of circumstances, although, standing alone, it is not a sufficient basis to justify a seizure); several exits prior to the ruse checkpoint possessed a full range of services, while it had none; the vehicle was being followed too closely by the vehicle traveling with it; the vehicle was not local; after exiting the interstate, the vehicle drove north to Highway 34 and turned west, the opposite direction from its travel direction; though the two vehicles were traveling together and the trooper attempted to execute a double stop, the black car did not stop; when the trooper asked Lopez why they had left the interstate, he stated that “they just wanted to drive around for a little bit;” Loya had no license; the vehicle did not belong to Loya or Lopez; Lopez indicated that the owner of the vehicle was someone named Juan, but the registration listed Geraldo Gonzales as the owner, see id. (stating that a “discrepancy between documents and a driver’s explanation is a legitimate basis for suspicion”); Gonzales was not present and neither Loya or Lopez knew where Gonzales was; Lopez had no identification; and Loya appeared nervous.

Under the totality of the circumstances, Trooper Allen, with 16 years experience as a traffic officer, possessed more than a “hunch” that criminal activity was afoot. See Sokolow, 490 U.S. at 7. Rather, he had reasonable suspicion to expand the scope of the stop and prolong its duration in order to investigate the potential presence of contraband. Furthermore, assuming that Trooper Allen’s questioning constituted a “broadened inquiry [that] must be reasonable,” United States v. Ward, 484 F.3d 1059, 1062 (8th Cir. 2007), in that “[t]he investigative methods employed should be the least intrusive means reasonably available to verify or dispel the officer’s suspicion in a short period of time.” Id. (quoting Bloomfield, 40 F.3d at 916), his approach was “a minimally intrusive way of addressing his reasonable suspicion ….” United States v. Donnelly, 475 F.3d 946, 953 (8th Cir. 2007).