Officer's Conversation with Driver was Consensual - Wyoming Supreme Court

Here is a good case law result out of Wyoming regarding extension of the scope of the stop and consensual encounters. Summary provided by IMLA. Here is a link to the case: http://www.courts.state.wy.us/Documents/Opinions/2017WY9.pdf

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Search and Seizure:  Detention Ended after Officer Delivered Speeding Ticket and Said "Have a Safe Day;" Driver's Conversation Thereafter was Consensual 

Tibbetts v. State of Wyoming, 2017 WY 9 (Wyo. Feb. 1, 2017).

The detention created when a police officer pulls over a driver concludes after the officer issues a citation (or not) and indicates that the driver is free to go.  If the driver then agrees to continued conversation with the officer, that interaction is deemed to be voluntary and outside the scope of the original stop.

On May 3, 2013 a state trooper stopped Michael Scott Tibbetts (Tibbetts) for speeding outside Gillette, Wyoming. The trooper obtained Tibbetts' driver's license and proof of insurance, wrote the speeding citation, handed it to Tibbetts and told him to "drive safe and have a safe day." As the trooper was walking away from Tibbetts' truck, and while the lights on the police cruiser were still flashing, he turned around and asked Tibbetts if he would mind answering a few questions. Tibbetts said he had no issues with answering further questions.

The trooper made a variety of inquiries, including Tibbetts' travel plans and whether he had anything he should not have in the car. Tibbetts handed over prescription pills for which he did not have a prescription and, ultimately, methamphetamine. Tibbetts filed a motion to suppress arguing his statements and the methamphetamine were the product of an unlawful detention that exceeded the scope of the trooper's original justification for the traffic stop. The district court concluded a reasonable person in Tibbett's situation would have felt free to leave after the trooper bade him farewell and turned to go, meaning Tibbetts consented to answering further questions voluntarily. Tibbetts appealed.

The Wyoming Supreme Court noted Tibbetts did not contest the trooper's initial reasonable suspicion for speeding, but rather that the trooper unlawfully extended the detention without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity after the speeding investigation was complete. The Court disagreed with this contention, finding instead that the investigative detention ended when the trooper wished Tibbetts a good day and told him to drive safely. At that point a new, consensual interaction began because Tibbetts was free to leave, but agreed to speak further with the trooper at his request; he was under no obligation to do so according to the Court. Tibbetts focused on the fact that the trooper's overhead lights were still on and that the officer did not let him begin to leave, e.g. begin to drive away. These arguments fell on deaf ears as the Court noted no authority was cited for these arguments and pointed out that the trooper clearly indicated he could leave: he bid him a good day, turned away and began walking toward his cruiser. The overhead lights are but one factor in the totality of the circumstances analysis and in this case they were not "coercive." The Court affirmed the lower court.