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N.D.Iowa: Stop for alleged gang colors, without more, was unreasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant was approached at an Iowa airport after he got off an Interstate bus. The airport was a transfer point to him, and he was not flying. VIPR officers approached him because they thought his red lettered Pirate’s baseball cap and red shoe laces were gang colors. They made him come inside where they had him remove his shirt to photograph tattoos. He was seized and Mendenhall was distinguishable because Mendenhall was encountered in transit in an airport, not removed to the airport for a search. United States v. Wodesso, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23535 (N.D. Iowa March 15, 2010).* Telling the defendant during a traffic stop where he was in the patrol car because of the cold that he was “good to go” was indicative that the rest was consensual...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 17, 2010 (boomark / email).