Tracy Woods v. State of Mississippi

MAXWELL, J., for the Court:

¶ 1. The Fourth Amendment protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures — including unreasonable traffic stops. But a traffic stop is reasonable when the officer had probable cause to believe a traffic violation occurred. Here, the officer saw Tracy Woods fail to make the required signal to nearby vehicles when making an abrupt right turn into a gas station. 1 So the officer had probable cause to believe Woods committed a traffic violation.

¶ 2. Because the traffic stop — which led to Woods’s arrest for driving under the influence — was reasonable,…