Kallie Cox//September 16, 2024//
In February of 2021, Chad Thomas was stopped by police for a broken headlight. The ticket for the violation was about to become the least of his concerns.
Thomas couldn’t find his driver’s license, so the officer asked him to exit the vehicle and frisked him, according to court documents. The officer then asked Thomas to sit in the patrol car and Thomas refused. The officer then told Thomas he seemed nervous and was talking fast.
After a conversation with the officer, Thomas was allowed to search his vehicle for his missing ID. Thomas also explained during this exchange that the reason he felt uncomfortable in the officer’s car was that he had “been beaten up by police before.”
As Thomas sat in the seat searching for his ID, the officer — whose name is redacted from court records — ordered him to get out of the car.
“In the car, Mr. Thomas turned his body toward the center console, to look for his ID, and Officer [redacted] immediately grabbed Mr. Thomas’s shoulder, then wrist, and pulled him out of the car,” according to a brief filed by Thomas’ attorney Shajiah Jaffri of the public defender’s office in Kansas City. “The door was left open, officer directed Mr. Thomas up against the car and ordered his hands behind his back. Mr. Thomas cooperated, and the officer handcuffed him.”
Thomas asked the officer if he was being arrested and the officer replied that he was being detained as part of the traffic stop. In the officer’s patrol car, he performed a virtual ID search on Thomas and as he did so, asked if another officer could search his vehicle for the missing ID. Thomas consented to this search but almost immediately revoked this consent, according to his attorney’s brief.
At this time the officer called for a K9 unit. While the officers waited for the K9 unit they debated what to write the ticket for, but ultimately did not write Thomas a ticket, choosing to wait for the K9 and confirmation of a possible arrest warrant.
The dog alerted on Thomas’ car and located a pipe, a dropper bottle containing a liquid and a hypodermic needle. The liquid later tested positive for methamphetamine.
Thomas was charged with possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Thomas moved to suppress the drug evidence — his attorney argued it resulted from an unlawful search and seizure in violation of his constitutional rights.
A circuit court overruled his motion and Thomas renewed his objections. A jury found Thomas guilty, and the circuit court sentenced him to 10 years in prison and a $50 fine.
Thomas appealed his case and during oral arguments before the Missouri Supreme Court, his attorney asked judges to rule in his favor as the evidence was gathered during an unlawfully extended traffic stop.
“The officer has determined what he is going to write the ticket for. He has all the information he needs to conclude the investigation,” Jaffri said during the court’s oral arguments. She argued that the officer delayed writing the ticket so that the K9 unit could arrive and sniff the car before Thomas would be free to leave.
Many of the factors cited by the state in its brief that it attributes to signs of possible drug use also line up with being nervous, she said.
In the state’s argument, Assistant Attorney General Nathan J. Aquino argued that the circuit court did not err in its judgment to deny the suppression and said the stop was not unlawfully extended due to various complications including Thomas’ failure to produce a license. Also, Aquino argued that Thomas acted in a way the officer would deem suspicious.
The case is State of Missouri v. Chad Thomas, Case No. SC100469
STORY CREDIT: MOlawyersMedia.com