State v. Dowdley

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• officer's actions no more intrusive than necessary at each 13 phase of increasingly suspicious interaction with defendant and passengers in vehicle during traffic stop
• observation of passengers “bent over” and “messing with something” on floor of stopped vehicle suggested that “they might be concealing or retrieving a weapon”
• lone officer who encountered six occupants of vehicle stopped for traffic violation was justified in drawing weapon after occupants disobeyed orders
• “The danger of an armed passenger was present until the occupants were pat frisked for weapons, and disarmed.”
• officer stopping automobile for traffic violation justified, based on reasonable concern for safety, in ordering defendant to leave vehicle, where officer observed passengers in back seat bent over attempting to retrieve or conceal something
• level of police intrusiveness was proportional to danger identified by officer making stop

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).