Opinion ID: 1448445
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The February 4, 2007 stop

Text: While anyone in Appellants' situation would have felt constrained to remain at the scene immediately after his or her tires had been deflated and as agents approached the vehicle, it does not follow that the mere use of a CTDD to stop the vehicle would have caused an innocent person to believe that a prolonged custodial detention amounting to an arrest was about to occur. [3] Even if he or she were aware that his or her tires had been deflated intentionally [4] and that the police were in pursuit, an innocent motorist would assume that a mistake had been made, and that the mistake could be corrected through contact and communication with the police. Undoubtedly, if the police continued to exhibit signs of an intent to arrest after interacting with the motorist, the motorist reasonably might believe that an arrest was in progress. But the facts of this case simply do not reflect such a scenario, and we cannot say that an innocent motorist necessarily would have believed that the use of the spikes made an indefinite custodial detention inevitable. We also are persuaded by the government's justification for using the relatively more intrusive CTDD method to stop the vehicle. The facts known to Battaglini suggested a high likelihood of smuggling activity: the area is a known smuggling hotspot; Battaglini was at least reasonably certain that the vehicle had made an illegal border crossing; the vehicle had tinted windows and a tarp covering its posterior contents; it bore no marks of recreational use and proceeded hastily out of the dunes in a manner inconsistent with recreational activity; and it abruptly adjusted its speed from excessively fast in the recreational area to considerably below the speed limit on the highway. These facts led Battaglini to classify Appellants' approach as a confirmed illegal entry. As Battaglini testified, vehicles exiting the A-7 and Buttercup Valleys under these particular circumstances rarely have yielded to the police and frequently have engaged in dangerous maneuvers that endanger innocent members of the public. Together, these specific ... circumstance[s] ... supported a reasonable belief that the use of [force] was necessary to carry out the legitimate purposes of the stop without exposing law enforcement officers, the public, or the suspect[s] ... to an undue risk of harm. Acosta-Colon, 157 F.3d at 19. Were we faced with an ordinary vehicle seizure unrelated to the myriad difficulties facing customs and immigration officials who are charged with the enforcement of smuggling and immigration laws, Richards, 638 F.2d at 771, we might hesitate to classify the seizure of Appellants' vehicle as an investigative detention, given the practical reality that the stop rendered Appellants' vehicle inoperable until the tires could be repaired or replaced. We have noted that the duration of detention is critically important in determining whether a stop has become an arrest, United States v. Patterson, 648 F.2d 625, 632 (9th Cir.1981), and while a detention might be said to occur only so long as law enforcement actually detains the vehicle's occupants, the condition of their vehicle clearly would have subjected Appellants to considerable delay in going about their business. Nonetheless, because this was not an ordinary roadside vehicle stop but one authorized under the border search doctrine, where the government's powers are at their zenith, Seljan, 497 F.3d at 1041 (citing Flores-Montano, 541 U.S. at 152, 124 S.Ct. 1582), we are satisfied that the potential practical implications of deploying a CTDD do not warrant treatment of the stop as an arrest. [5]