McDowell v. State

The issues before us are (1) whether the record adequately demonstrates that State Trooper Jeremiah Gussoni, after making a valid traffic stop of a pickup truck in which petitioner was a passenger, had a reasonable suspicion that a gym bag he observed just behind the passenger seat of the truck might contain a weapon, and (2) if so, whether the trooper was justified in ordering petitioner first to exit the vehicle with the bag and then to open the bag so that Gussoni could view its contents, without articulating any basis for believing that a simple pat-down of the bag would fail to confirm…