[While it was thin,] The officer had reasonable suspicion for a dog sniff, including \u201creact[ing] defensively when asked for consent to search the Sentra by making a facial expression, flailing his arms to the side, and offering unprompted explanations as to what he was doing.\u201d United States v. Jackson, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126662 (E.D. Ark. July 3, 2025)*:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Even if the traffic stop had been prolonged, which the Court concludes the stop was not based on the record before the Court, Agent Johnson had reasonable suspicion to prolong the stop to conduct a dog sniff. By the time Agent Johnson called for a K9, he had already made the following observations with respect to Mr. Jackson: (1) Mr. Jackson appeared initially to speed up prior to the stop when he observed Agent Johnson’s police unit; (2) the Sentra had expired registration tags and a broken brake light; (3) the Sentra’s expired tags returned to a different vehicle; (4) Mr. Jackson was not carrying a valid driver’s license; (5) Mr. Jackson was wearing only one shoe and was exhibiting signs of nervousness such as a quivering voice and lack of eye contact; and (6) Mr. Jackson reacted defensively when asked for consent to search the Sentra by making a facial expression, flailing his arms to the side, and offering unprompted explanations as to what he was doing. These factors were sufficient to give Agent Johnson, who had conducted thousands of traffic stops and received various specialized trainings, an objectively reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot so as to warrant a brief prolongation of the traffic stop to conduct a dog sniff. The Court notes that other courts have found reasonable suspicion in similar circumstances. See Murillo-Salgado, 854 F.3d at 415-16; United States v. Chacon, 701 F. Supp. 3d 821, 827 (S.D. Iowa 2023), aff’d sub nom. United States v. Munoz, 134 F.4th 539 (8th Cir. 2025).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[While it was thin,] The officer had reasonable suspicion for a dog sniff, including \u201creact[ing] defensively when asked for consent to search the Sentra by making a facial expression, flailing his arms to the side, and offering unprompted explanations as … Continue reading