Opinion ID: 1873533
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: ¶ 4 On August 20, 2005, Rennie, accompanied by his police dog, D'Jango, sat in his police cruiser located in the parking lot of a flower shop, running radar detection on Highway 13. While there, he observed Arias exit a grocery store with three 12-packs of beer and place them in a vehicle he knew belonged to Megan Schillinger (Schillinger). From his acquaintance with Schillinger, Rennie knew her to be 17 years of age. When Schillinger began driving the vehicle containing both the beer and Arias, Rennie stopped them because he believed that Wisconsin law prohibited minors from operating vehicles that contain intoxicants. [3] ¶ 5 Rennie pulled Schillinger over and called for back-up at approximately 10:45 p.m. He approached the car; explained to Schillinger why he had stopped her; and then he took her driver's license back to his squad car. Though Rennie testified at the preliminary hearing that at this point he radioed dispatch to relay Schillinger's driver's license information, the State does not challenge the circuit court's finding to the contrary: the circuit court found that Rennie did not radio in Schillinger's information until 11:27 p.m. Rennie then returned to Schillinger's vehicle, where he administered a preliminary breath test to her to determine whether she had consumed alcohol. The breath test registered zero. Rennie then asked Schillinger if there were any drugs in the car. Schillinger replied no. Rennie then asked Schillinger if she and Arias were carrying around anything with [them]. She again replied no. At this point, Rennie returned to his squad car and released D'Jango to perform a sniff around the exterior of Schillinger's vehicle. The State concedes that Rennie did not have a reasonable suspicion of drug activity prior to the dog sniff. ¶ 6 The surveillance video taken from Rennie's squad car captures the activity of D'Jango, who alerts by sitting, which is called a pass holder. D'Jango appears on the video accompanied by Rennie. D'Jango proceeds to the passenger side of the car, where he sits and barks. D'Jango then gets up and jogs to the driver's side of the car, where he also sits and barks. The time that elapsed from Rennie's question about drugs to the completion of D'Jango's sniff was one minute and 18 seconds. D'Jango's sniff concluded four minutes and ten seconds after Rennie stopped Schillinger's vehicle. ¶ 7 As a result of what he perceived as D'Jango's positive alert on the vehicle, Rennie instructed Arias to exit the vehicle and performed a pat-down search of him. After searching Arias, Rennie instructed Schillinger to exit the vehicle, and he performed a pat-down search of her. He then proceeded to search Schillinger's car. ¶ 8 Inside the car, Rennie found a plastic bag containing a powdery substance that Arias identified as coke stuck between the front seats. Rennie also found a switchblade knife that popped out when he placed his weight on the front seat. Both items belonged to Arias. ¶ 9 Officer Jason Bauer, who arrived on the scene in response to Rennie's call for back-up, handcuffed Arias and searched him again, for the officers' safety. Rennie placed Arias in his squad car, removed the beer from Schillinger's car and told her that she was free to leave. The detainment concluded at approximately 11:27 p.m. ¶ 10 Rennie did not issue Schillinger a citation for transporting intoxicants as a minor until the next day. Rennie stated that he had drug evidence in his squad car that he wanted to deliver to the police station and that the encounter had led him to conclude that he had a bigger concern with [Arias] than in immediately issuing a ticket to Schillinger.