Opinion ID: 809541
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Detention After a Traffic Stop

Text: After an initial traffic stop by an officer, “further detention [of the driver] for purposes of questioning unrelated to the initial traffic stop is impermissible unless: (1) the officer has an objectively reasonable and articulable suspicion that illegal activity has occurred or is occurring, or (2) the initial detention has become a consensual encounter.” United States v. Bradford, 423 F.3d 1149, 1156-57 (10th Cir. 2005) (emphases added). -8- Thus, Deputy Trammel could constitutionally detain Mr. Arencibia beyond the initial traffic stop under either justification. Id. As we explain below, the law does not clearly establish that Deputy Trammel lacked reasonable suspicion in this context. Therefore, qualified immunity applies, and we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment. Because we find that Deputy Trammel had reasonable suspicion of illegal activity, we need not address whether Mr. Arencibia’s consent was voluntary. B. Reasonable Suspicion and Totality of the Circumstances Reasonable suspicion is based on the “totality of the circumstances.” United States v. Arvizu, 534 U.S. 266, 273 (2002). We do not evaluate factors, such as the “red flags” identified by Deputy Trammel, in a vacuum. Instead, we look at them as a whole, combined with the officer’s experience and training, to determine if he had a “particularized and objective basis” for suspecting illegal activity. Id. at 273. For example, in Bradford, we held that an officer had reasonable suspicion to detain a driver based on a set of factors, any one of which could have had an innocuous connotation: the presence of a cellular phone, luggage, and food wrappers; the driver’s nervousness; inconsistencies and improbabilities in the driver’s answers; and the driver’s one-way car rental. 423 F.3d at 1157. Deputy Trammel identified multiple bases for his suspicion, which he told to Sergeant Metz before continuing his detention of Mr. Arencibia. These “red flags” included Mr. Arencibia’s excessive nervousness, see United States v. Contreras, 506 F.3d -9- 1031, 1036 (10th Cir. 2007); United States v. Williams, 271 F.3d 1262, 1269 (10th Cir. 2001); the ghosting on the trailer; Mr. Arencibia’s decisions to haul a locked, empty trailer attached to a truck with known mechanical problems across the country; unusual circumstances surrounding the purchase of the truck; the EPIC report on Mr. Arencibia’s prior drug involvement, see United States v. Sandoval, 29 F.3d 537, 542 (10th Cir. 1994) (noting that prior criminal activity can give rise to reasonable suspicion if combined with other factors); and inconsistencies in the logbook, bill of lading, and weigh station tickets, see, e.g., United States v. Soto, 988 F.2d 1548, 1555-56 (10th Cir. 1993); United States v. Pena, 920 F.2d 1509, 1514 (10th Cir. 1990)). While any one of these “red flags,” if evaluated on its own, might not give rise to reasonable suspicion, the confluence of so many factors could give rise to suspicion that is “particularized and objective.” Arvizu, 534 U.S. at 273 (explaining that the combination of multiple, seemingly harmless, factors could create reasonable suspicion). Having identified multiple factors pointing to reasonable suspicion, Deputy Trammel could not have been on notice that he was violating a clearly established constitutional right. See Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640 (1987) (“The contours of the right must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right.”). We agree with the district court that Deputy Trammel did not violate a clearly established constitutional right and that summary judgment is appropriate. Qualified immunity shields the Defendants from § 1983 liability. -10- C. Mr. Arencibia’s Argument About Reasonable Suspicion After the Initial Traffic Stop Mr. Arencibia concedes that Deputy Trammel identified several “red flags” demonstrating his “reasonable and articulable suspicion to question [Mr.] Arencibia on matters unrelated to the initial traffic stop.” Aplt. Reply Br. at 2. Nonetheless, Mr. Arencibia argues those “red flags” became irrelevant once Deputy Trammel returned Mr. Arencibia’s paperwork. In his view, Deputy Trammel based his further detention on the belief that the encounter had become consensual. Mr. Arencibia supports this argument using a “bright line rule” that officers must return drivers’ paperwork before an encounter can become consensual. See United States v. Elliott, 107 F.3d 810, 814 (10th Cir. 1997). As Mr. Arencibia is quick to note, simply returning paperwork is not sufficient to transform a detention into a consensual encounter when other factors would make a reasonable driver feel that he was not free to leave. Nonetheless, we are not aware of any authority establishing that an officer’s return of a driver’s documents extinguishes reasonable suspicion as an independent justification for further questioning.7 Indeed, our decision in Bradford supports continued detention after the initial traffic stop based on the driver’s consent or reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Bradford, 423 F.3d at 1156-57 (10th Cir. 2005). 7 In his brief, Mr. Arencibia cited no authority to support this assertion. At oral argument, his counsel cited Bradford and Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491 (1983). Neither of those cases holds that an officer must rely only on consent, to the exclusion of reasonable suspicion, once a driver’s paperwork has been returned. -11- Deputy Trammel’s reasonable and articulable suspicion that Mr. Arencibia was involved in transporting illegal drugs or related materials warranted his continued detention of Mr. Arencibia after the initial traffic stop. The law does not clearly establish that officers with reasonable suspicion of criminal activity cannot continue questioning after the initial traffic stop. Thus, the Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity.8