on August 9th 2018 18-year-old Tayon Leah was driving his mother's car when officer Kevin Crawford of the Louisville Metro Police Stopped him for making a wide turn Leah pulled over and Crawford quickly escalated the situation [Applause] [Music] stop this car [Music] well what's going on man what's up you know what I'm stopping you for man when you turned on here on the Dixie 18th Street turned in the far left lane you're supposed to turn to the right lane see there two lanes that's the reason why man are there any weapons in the car no drugs man do you have your ID no you ain't got any guns right good man yeah I'm sorry work today you got to speak up all this say something about work yeah go ahead and check it man give me faor put your hands on ster you open up the door Mr Leah knew to stay seated keep his hands on the steering wheel and avoid sudden movements during a traffic stop for safety despite these precautions he appeared nervous which was understandable given the officers surrounding his car as an 18-year-old honor student with no criminal record the situation was stressful for him this raises the question of whether the traffic stop was justified traffic stops are detentions meaning the driver cannot leave and require officers to have Reasonable Suspicion of a crime police need an objective reason such as a traffic violation to justify the stop if Mr Leah made an improper turn the stop was legitimate Mr Lea fully cooperated providing his driver's license registration and proof of insurance as required by Kentucky law do me a favor grab your phone your want Tock it on why because I'm telling you or it's going to fall out when you get out of the vehicle why are you taking me out of the vehicle move it up here for you Mama they taking me out the vehicle you don't hop out get out of the car they they telling me to get out of the car now that's the reason why I didn't want anything on you I don't want to break your front brother you don't have any weapons on you d i don't no drugs nope awesome man turn around put your hands s your feet I don't I even did anything why are you checking me for I didn't say you did anything so you don't have any why did you take me off the car do you have any drugs weapons on your I don't I told you that me the first time I do mind okay awesome want me to make sure you don't have any weapons okay no yeah we're allowed to pat you down for weapons Mama they patting me down yeah we're allowed to do that quit doing the clinch in your fist thing too that's some [ __ ] what's what's bull crap [ __ ] only day I got off I just want to go home you close my door no why I can't leave you to go close the door quit with the attitude he's not giving you an attitude and I'm not giving you an attitude understand we deal with violent crime all day every day we're going to stop 30 more people after you as soon as we get on here you'll go home okay if you're wasting time and we're wasting your time I'm sorry for the small inconvenience we're allowed to get people out of the car your your heart is beating through your chest when you're on the phone with your mom and you're narrating to your mom mom I stopped by the police this is where I'm at they're getting me out of the car oh my gosh when you do all that it's the same thing that people do when they're trying to hide something from the police and they're trying to take the The Situation off of it just like you're looking back at my partner over and over and over again like you're waiting for him to see something or for him to do something wrong it's 2018 young man we all wear body cameras it's recording all of it it records your audio my audio it records all that so guess what happens when if if and when if there was something in that vehicle and we go to trial over it guess what the jury to your attitude we're here for you man there's a shooting every day it's crazy it's sad it's ridiculous ain't nobody been nasty to you at all Mr Leo was suddenly forced out of his vehicle while being questioned about weapons or drugs as if officer Crawford had already assumed he was guilty of something illegal despite being fully cooperative and having no problem showing identification or answering questions Mr Leo was removed from the vehicle and searched after repeated questions about weapons or drugs while the purpose of the stop may have been to make a wrong turn the issue took a different turn officer Crawford had nothing more than a simple traffic violation on his hands yet he was handcuffed and subjected to abusive accus ations the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures and requires probable cause supported by a search warrant this amendment aims to protect privacy and Liberty from unreasonable government intrusion while it may seem unreasonable to be forcibly removed from a car for a minor traffic violation the supreme court allows officers to do so for safety reasons as noted in Pennsylvania V Mims This authorization also applies to passengers however the situation became questionable when the officers physically searched Mr Leah frisked him and searched his pockets without justification it is important to be able to show reasonable grounds for frisking a person and a traffic violation is not one of those grounds because the reason for the Frisk was based on completely different reasons for the stop there was no probable cause to search Mr Leah making the search a formal violation of his fourth amendment rights K9 indication at 1810 [Applause] [Music] yeah come on really likes the wallet I'm not going to have you run like that there's the dog indicated on your vehicle I don't know what's in your car but like I said I don't want you to run so you're still just being detained you're not free to go but you're not under arrest at this time I just don't want you to go anywhere okay but I'm not going to fight you and I'm certainly not going to chase you I had to chase some guy last night and I haven't recovered from it so I'm not chasing you today okay I come talk to you just send me a favor hang out by T phone pole what did you I'll come talk to you okay let's come over here for me there's nothing in there okay can we do me a favor come back over here I'm just giving you ref this way you can see okay I'm I'm the detective that pulled him over okay so basically he committed a traffic violation right in front of me he conducted an improper turn on the 18th Street I I I was on the phone with him the whole way he said you were F on him the whole way there was no improper term okay well and he didn't give you luckily enough for you ma'am luckily enough for you everything was captured on body camera okay no luckily enough for you oh really okay he didn't give you permission to search we don't need his permission man we had a positive indication by the came out okay oh my God so ma' you guys are more than welcome to watch videotape whatever just do me a favor give us some room and stay over here please ma'am please stay over here I'm you're trespassing on private property right now it's for sale ma'am stay over there please if you approach my traffic stop I will take you ma'am if you approach my traffic stop I will take you to jail I don't care I do not care I don't care either you know what okay ma' okay sir can you do me a favor and talk no she's standing back we standing back can you I'm giving you reference point to stand at okay it's right over by do you see where I'm pointing at can we step back over yes that would be amazing please so we just step back I'm not going no where no I get interrupted by her he opened up the door and took me out you been in trouble before 59 2000 yes Kentucky anything as a juvenile at all no okay my mom [ __ ] private investigat [ __ ] ain't do [ __ ] your mom is what's with all the cussing man now [Applause] you go school or [Music] anything work anywhere you probably just graduated high school didn't you sell cars do you op4 that's good money [ __ ] yeah you actually like a car salesman man it's awesome across what would she like so much in his well other than probably maybe handling or handling narcotics and then touching the wallet yeah you know what I mean so many papers I'm just trying to go through does he have an ID yeah sir have you had anything in your wallet like uh maybe some narcotics in the past or anything like that no little bit of anything okay have you been around anyone that maybe could have touched your wallet okay you Mom you want to talk to me you doing all right I'm I'm pissed off for real piss off cuz I was on the phone with my son he was scared to death the narcist following me and I don't know why I said where you at and what are you doing he said I'm not doing nothing cuz he went to the store to get a slush I said okay okay look just don't do nothing wrong he knows he just got he got his license you know he's a working young man he don't cause no problem yeah and then for him the thing is he took him out the car he didn't tell him what he was pulling him over for nothing put the phone down and get out the car he said well for what you know and he said just put it down cuz it's going to drop well why are you taking me out the car that's what he asked he said cuz I want to cuz I can't and then he's going to tell me for my I'm lucky that he got his body camera on no you lucky that you got the body camera on cuz if what you say happened is really on that body camera it's on there it's public record it's on there exactly yeah I know exactly but I mean and then tell me that you detected Drugs in My Car come on D I'm telling you I'm an officer of the court it's no drugs in my car we know better than didn't say there he didn't say there's drugs in the car yeah he said they didn't detected drugs in the car okay drugs in the car or had been in the car I don't know either way that F of Carson Shepherds up there in that room he just walked in there right thank you thank you girl let in so but my whole thing is if it's a wrong term give him a ticket you don't have to bring that's not what we're out here for okay you here we're violent okay we're a violent crimes unit first we're not narcotics okay but so listen just will you will you listen to me because I want to okay well you're not going to listen I don't think cuz I'm trying to explain to you and you before I can even tell you what we're doing or why we're here or who we are you're already asking you're already asking another question just not allowing me to explain I mean I'm still going off of what he's saying okay well I'm not him okay I'm trying to talk to you to help you understand as a parent and know why we're out here and what's going on with the whole situation if there had been reasonable suspicion that Mr Leah was armed dangerous or had committed a crime an investigation would be justified however there were no signs of criminal involvement in this case officer Crawford cited Mr Leah's nervousness and the presence of a small souvenir Louisville Slugger bad in the car as reasons for the Frisk the judge ruled that nervousness alone is insufficient to establish Reasonable Suspicion describing Mr Leah's demeanor as more exasperated or annoyed officer Crawford unnecessarily prolonged the traffic stop by calling in a K9 unit and using its indication as probable cause to search Mr Leah's vehicle according to the 2015 case of Rodriguez V United States a stop May last no longer than necessary to address the initial purpose Authority for the seizure ends when tasks related to the traffic infraction are or reasonably should have been completed will you let me do that listen Okay so we're a violent crime unit okay we don't pick and choose where we work we are told by our commanders by the chief's office where to control and all that is based off of criminal violence statistics okay the 18 Street corridor California park Victory Park Park Hill these are all neighborhoods that we Patrol and we're told to go to these areas and Patrol okay that's why first off that's why we're here okay I don't have a problem with that yeah I'd hope not I mean it's we're just doing our job to try to make the city a little safer so what we do one of the aspects of what we do is we focus on traffic stops okay right now you listen to me yeah I'm Miss okay right now the city has been plagued by gun I don't want the history I just want to know why my son when I say right now it's not history I'm telling you what we're doing right now okay and I'm trying to just let you understand but it's like you don't want to hear it I just want to hear about my son I know this I'm getting to that I know all of that I'm getting to that I'm telling you why your son is being stopped and why he's out of the car but you're not allowing me to do that so it's a traffic infraction that he was stopped for okay a traffic infraction he I wasn't here but I asked the detective before I came to talk to you why' y'all stop him an improper term okay believe that but okay okay you don't believe it you weren't here you didn't see it you wasn't either you believed your guy and I believe my son so we has your son ever made a traffic infraction do you think no he has not he's never made a traffic infraction he has not I bet we can watch him drive for 5 minutes and pick out a traffic infraction I bet you could I bet you could well then how can you say I bet you I'm not I'm not going to bet you could because you I know the laws know thew I'm an officer of the Court too I know the law so you know the traffic violations the traffic yes I do then I'm sure you could watch that and pick one out but that's not what we're going to do you you can pick one out you make one I don't make anything I can do a U-turn you say I did it too wide I ain't here for that huh I know that I know that we done here if you want to be done you can I'm trying to help need the stats I don't need the stats right now I don't I don't care I appreciate y'all being out here for violent crimes my son's not a violent nothing you run his name he's never been in jcyc nothing he got a job said he was a violent crime no re to be out the car handcuffed right now can you tell me can you tell me how to pick out violent crime can you tell me how I don't I don't need to tell you how because it they can they can run across the street too fast and you'll say it's Bible it don't matter at this point it's your own discretion no it's not yeah it is the reason why you took him out of that car is because you doing some violent trafficking you just made every word of that up the most impressive thing is you made every word out of the car because never said that I never said anything about taking him out of the car you're just you're just making it up you're making it up you can believe what you want I came over here to try to explain to you but you don't I'm talking about present Day present day and it's unfortunate that you don't care I came to try to explain to you but you don't want to hear it because you don't want to hear the trth nothing to do with my son I don't want to hear it I'm trying to get to that I don't care about that right now care okay I'm dealing with my son right now have a good day I will we can just keep trying just keep trying she goes making stuff up again she's making stuff up again she just making up though it's a she'll spill that over the internet and you'll have a thousand likes before you know it and none of it's true she just keeps making lives up she's an officer of the Court she's officer stuff over here she's she's an officer of the court she just makes stuff up yeah I'm making stuff up all it is all it is going to lock me up for being a violent criminal you could I mean you probably could lock someone up from a U-turn I never have yeah but it's a traffic in fraction so you probably could but she'll just make something up and put it on the internet get a th likes just get a th likes and why are you'll be just on and on and on it's a disease could you imagine if we didn't now and all the BS that get made up about everything that we do I'm so glad we have CU we're on a violent traffic stop right now yeah I mean it's thank God that we have our cameras because all the BS that she's going to make up and put online the camera does save us good job thank you if you don't mind me asking why do you have like this negative view towards the police what's the deal whatever what's ever happened in your life personally where you're like you can give me a good explanation absolutely nothing really [ __ ] I graduated I got a good ass job right got graduated with three4 r b scholarship I Ain never did [ __ ] in my life I've been in the house all day so what's what's the the problem like why why are we in this situation you [ __ ] you mean we didn't we didn't do it pull me over we made a traffic stop for your violation that you did all right man I don't want to talk and then you went up here with it huh you did the entire entire time we don't know who you are I don't know that you graduated and you got several scholarships and that you have a good job I mean I don't know it's not like I have a x-ray vision that says oh this is who's in this car he's good to go if you don't want hear it that's fine you can continue with your negative view towards me I [Applause] guess I just figured I'd try to understand it but that's fine understand huh huh I'll never understand well I don't hold no hard feelings against [Applause] you I don't take it personal though buddy I take you out these handcuffs while he's finishing up are you going to fight me or run or anything like that because initially when we brought you to the back of the car you're clenching up your fist like you're going to fight or punch or run or whatever and you've been doing this pacing back and forth thing the entire time I'll go ahead take you out the Cuffs but I don't want you to like take off run into your car or fight me is that cool I know you're mad it is what it is but I'll take you out of them since they're a little uncomfortable is that cool huh you going to take me out over there is it cool you you going to be chill yeah I'm going to be chill all right all right sir here's your ID back right you've got court October second for improper turning at 700 p.m. up do you understand reason why you stop all righty have a wonderful day Mr Leo was eventually given a citation which the officer should have done immediately instead of prolonging the stop after an unjust search that violated Mr Leah's Fourth Amendment rights nothing illegal was found in 2019 Mr Leah sued Chief Steve Conrad the ninth mobile division commander and five officers alleging verbal abuse threats humiliation and mocking during the search the 27 page complaint claimed Conrad and Commander William Hibbs should have known their aggressive policing orders in black neighborhoods would lead to biased and unconstitutional stops in 2021 The Courier Journal reported the lmpd dropped its probe into officer Crawford when he resigned to join another department the traffic charge was dismissed after a review of body camera footage on May 26th 2023 a settlement awarded Mr Leah $375,000 officer Crawford now works for the Jeffersonville Police