Opinion ID: 1670832
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Initial Stop of the Van

Text: At the hearing, the State submitted a videotape from Bigsby's patrol car camera that shows the timeline of events. Bigsby testified that while in a marked patrol car monitoring traffic on Interstate 80 in Lincoln, he noticed the eastbound van in which Draganescu was a passenger. He thought he saw Nevada plates on the van. He testified that the van caught his eye because it [a]ppeared to be possibly a rental and it was from Nevada. And I've had some success as far as Nevada plated vehicles and contraband and rental vehicles. He pulled onto the interstate to observe the van and another vehicle. Bigsby initially passed the van when he saw that the plates were from Washington instead of Nevada. But as he was passing the semi-truck in front of the van, he saw the van moving closer to the truck. From his rearview mirror, he saw the van was following the truck about one car length behind it and decided to stop the van. At 9:33 a.m., Bigsby stopped the van and asked for a vehicle registration and licenses from Truesdale and Draganescu. He intended to issue a warning ticket and asked Truesdale to sit in the patrol car while he issued the ticket.