Vratil issued a scathing, 79-page order in two separate lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of three motorists and two passengers traveling in 2017, 2018 and 2019 from neighboring Colorado, which has legalized recreational marijuana use.
Vratil concluded that the patrol targeted motorists traveling along Interstate 70 to or from states that have legalized either the medical or recreational use of marijuana. Kansas has authorized neither. “The KHP trains troopers not to inform a motorist that he or she is free to go,” Vratil wrote.
Troopers would be required to get a supervisor’s approval to conduct a vehicle search, and the patrol would have to keep a log of all such requests and who approved them.
The judge, an appointee of Republican President George H.W. Bush, said she would require troopers to “affirmatively inform” motorists of their right to refuse to allow searches of their vehicles. She concluded that that troopers “are more than happy to exploit (motorists’) lack of knowledge of their legal rights” and “pressure drivers to submit to extended detentions,” so that they “do not feel free to leave.”
No comments:
Post a Comment