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GA: Safety stop of interstate bus [likely targeting aliens] led to consensual encounters on the bus

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

An interstate bus was stopped on the highway for a safety inspection, and it was apparent that all the passengers were Spanish speakers. While the safety inspection was going on, other officers entered the bus to ask questions and seek consent searches of bags, making it clear that people could avoid the searches by just refusing. The encounters on the bus were constitutional. Solano-Rodriguez v. State, 2009 Ga. App. LEXIS 108 (February 10, 2009): Rather, the proper inquiry is "whether a reasonable person would feel free to decline the officers' requests or otherwise terminate the encounter." Id. at 436. The U.S. Supreme Court further clarified that the inquiry entails considering "all the circumstances surrounding the encounter," and that the same standard applies "to encounters that take place on a city street[,] in an airport lobby," or on a bus...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 12, 2009 (boomark / email).