Traffic Stop Refresher: Must You Justify Why You Ordered Someone out of a Vehicle after a Lawful Stop?

By Robert Phillips

Deputy District Attorney (ret.)

Legal Issues, Case Citation

1. Traffic stops, ordering a driver out of a vehicle
2. Pretextual motivations for ordering a subject out of a vehicle
3. Unlawful prolonging of a traffic stop
4. Ordering out of a vehicle and the mission of a traffic stop

People v. Ramirez (Aug. 20, 2024) 104 Cal.App.5th 315

Rule: During a lawful traffic stop, a police officer may order the driver out of the vehicle without having to justify why. An officer’s subjective motivation for ordering a subject out of his vehicle is irrelevant. Ordering a subject out of a car, done for safety reasons, does not unlawfully prolong the detention or take it outside the “mission of a traffic stop.”

Facts: At 10:45 pm on Aug. 1, 2022, Santa Ana police officers Travis Booth and James Driscoll observed defendant Luis Ramirez slide through a stop sign without making a complete stop, a violation ....