KY: Officer completed stop and said “have a good night,” but kept talking to passengers; became unreasonable

Defendant was stopped for a traffic offense, but it was completed and defendant was not under the influence, so he told “have a good night,” but the stop didn’t end as the officer kept talking to the passengers. That unreasonably extended the stop. Turley v. Commonwealth, 2013 Ky. LEXIS 231 (May 23, 2013):

For the reasons stated below, we conclude that Trooper Knight had completed the purpose of the original stop before he undertook to identify the passengers, and that his further interaction with Appellant and the passengers after that juncture was not a consensual encounter because, based on Knight’s own testimony, his purpose for the continuation of the road-side encounter was to conduct a nonconsensual Terry detention of the passengers. Appellant’s continued detention was a collateral consequence of that purpose. Moreover, it is clear that Knight’s intended Terry encounter with the passengers was unsupported by an individualized reasonable articulable suspicion to justify undertaking such a detention. Therefore, all evidence seized after Trooper Knight accomplished the legitimate purpose of the traffic stop and said his good-byes to Appellant was seized illegally and is not subject to use against Appellant at trial.