An Officer was working an interstate bus, and his and the other officers’ actions on the bus did not amount to a seizure, even though there were two “spotters” near the front door. United States v. Richards, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37528 (D. Minn. April 17, 2009):<\/p>\n
Defendant argued that because an officer was standing in the aisle, there were three other officers between him and the front of the bus, and because he had refused to permit a search of his luggage, he was effectively seized. Def. Mem., pp. 6-7. This reasoning has no merit. There is no testimony that any officer was stationed in the aisle during the interdiction in this case; rather, the testimony was that the officers moved in and out of the aisle as they questioned people, and deliberately did not stand in the aisle. See United States v. Angulo-Guerrero, 328 F.3d 449, 451 (8th Cir. 2003) (bus passengers not seized during interdiction where officer was moving down the aisle to make sure all passengers were questioned, and not to prevent them from leaving). Additionally, the fact that the two “spotters” were stationed in front of the bus did not render defendant seized. In Drayton<\/a>, where a routine drug interdiction took place on a Greyhound bus under similar circumstances, officers dressed in plain clothes and carrying concealed weapons and visible badges boarded the bus; similar to this case, two officers went to the rear of the bus and one remained stationed in front to observe. 536 U.S. at 197. The Supreme Court found that the bus passengers were not effectively seized when the officers boarded the bus and began asking questions because the officers gave passengers no reason to believe they were required to answer the officers’ questions, and because “there was no application of force, no intimidating movement, no overwhelming show of force, no brandishing of weapons, no blocking of exits, no threat, no command, not even an authoritative tone of voice.” Id. at 204.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
(This is a situation rife with coercion. I just don’t get it.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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