Rueben doesn’t look too happy, but then again who would be if they were just caught trafficking in cocaine… Four “bricks” (a “brick” is a packaged “kilo” – or kilogram – each brick weighing 2.2 lbs) with a total weight of nearly nine (9) pounds and with an estimated street value of about a quarter of a million bucks. As you can see below, the dope (meaning the coke… not Rueben) was packaged in vacuum sealed baggies each of which were marked / labeled “911”.
At around 9:00 am on Saturday, March 12th, 2016 Rueben was reportedly pulled over for speeding on I-95 by Connecticut State Police. I have not been able to determine the specific reasonable and articulable suspicious facts and circumstances which led cops to believe that Rueben was trafficking in narcotics; all that I can report to you is that all of the articles that I have scoured state that “after being stopped, police noticed evidence of narcotics trafficking and asked to search the vehicle.”
Memo to the Folks: I cannot speak intelligently about Rueben’s situation but I can tell you this… When you are pulled over by the police for a traffic stop you have been “seized” and you are afforded protection by the 4 Amendment to the the US Constitution. Most traffic stops begin as a temporary “detention”, meaning that the you are not free to leave but you are also not under arrest. But a temporary traffic based detention can go any of a number of ways. You might get a warning and be let go, or you might get a ticket and be let go or, if the cop believes that she has reasonable suspicion that you are involved in criminal activity then you may be further detained and if the cop believes that she has probable cause that you committed a crime then you might get arrested. However, all things equal, an ordinary stop for a traffic infraction (like speeding or an equipment violation) is permitted to last only as long as it reasonably takes for the officer to accomplish the purpose of the stop. Meaning that they can run your tag, your DL and the vehicle registration, and they can check for compliance with the requirement that you carry proof of insurance, and then they can write you a ticket, but once all of that is done then the lawful detention ends, and if the cops don’t let you promptly go about your business then your continued detention is unlawful.
Memo to the Folks continued: On the other hand, if, during the course of the detention, the officer develops a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been, is being or is about to be committed (like if you were having a clam bake and s/he smells the odor of marijuana emanating from your car) then, you can be further detained, and in the event that the officer has a reasonable and articulable suspicion that drugs are involved then you can be detained until a K-9 arrives. But, if a cop merely has an unfounded hunch (and not an objectively reasonable suspicion justifying continued detention for investigative purposes) then the normal rules apply and you can’t lawfully be kept on the roadside any longer than is necessary to accomplish the purposes of the stop. If you are kept waiting on a K-9 under those circumstances then, regardless of what they ultimately find, you have been unlawfully detained and the evidence should be suppressed.
https://www.youtube.com/c/michaelhaberlaw / http://habercriminallaw.blogspot.com
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Top notch, very skilled, and highly attentive. Mr. Haber is a fantastic criminal defense attorney. 
- Thanks again. You are second to none when it comes to defending your clients. For that, I thank you
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