IA: Officer’s inquiry into a backpack unreasonably extended the stop

Defendant was stopped because there was a plastic film over his license plate that made one of the letters illegible in headlights. The purpose of the stop was complete within 3-4 minutes. The officer, however, suddenly became interested in a backpack between two adults in the car, and started asking questions about it, and that made the defendant nervous. While it was a high crime area, possession of a backpack by an adult is not inherently suspicious [he’s never ridden on an airplane where many adults travel with only backpacks]. The stop ran too long because the officer got off the traffic stop into something not his business. State v. McFadden, 2017 Iowa App. LEXIS 991 (Sept. 27, 2017).