State v. Barnard

Defendant’s thirty second delay at a traffic intersection after the light turned green did not violate any law and, standing alone, could not have raised a reasonable, articulable suspicion that defendant was engaged in criminal activity. Consequently, Officer Maltby’s stop of defendant’s vehicle for purportedly “impeding flow of traffic” was an unconstitutional seizure of defendant’s person in violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. The trial court erred when it concluded otherwise.

By affirming the decision of a divided panel of the Court…