Criminal Procedure keyed to Saltzburg
United States v. Arvizu
Facts
A section of Highway 191 in Arizona serves as a border patrol checkpoint. Roving border agents check the unpaved back roads to catch smugglers who are seeking to avoid the checkpoint. Magnetic sensors lining the dirt roads alert agents to such smugglers. In January 1998, one Agent Stoddard was notified that a sensor had been triggered. Driving out to investigate, Stoddard encounter a minivan. It was the only vehicle Stoddard encountered. The minivan is a type of vehicle favored by drug-smugglers. A family of five occupied the van. Stoddard followed it after the driver appeared unnaturally stiff. The children began to wave in an “unnatural pattern” at Stoddard. After turning the last road to avoid the checkpoint, Stoddard radioed in for the vehicle’s registration, and then pulled the vehicle over upon learning that the owner lived in a high drug-traffic area. He asked the respondent, Ralph Arvizu, if he could search the van. He found over 100 lbs of marijuana in the van.
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