A divided Iowa Supreme Court has reversed the conviction of an eastern Iowa man who was arrested after a routine traffic stop. An Eldridge police officer stopped a car that was registered to a woman who had a suspended driver’s license. The officer found a man, Jayel Coleman driving the car that he said he had borrowed from his sister. The officer checked Coleman’s driver’s license and determined he was driving while barred.

Coleman appealed, saying the officer had no reason to question him. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled the reason for the traffic stop was resolved when the officer found Coleman driving and it was unconstitutional to continue the stop. Three justices issued a dissent, saying the ruling gives Coleman a free pass and determines the routine request to see a driver’s license and registration in a traffic stop violates the search and seizure provision of the Iowa Constitution.

The dissent says the case goes out of its way to connect the case to racial profiling and does not consider the multiple driving violations and other arrests of Coleman.

(Radio Iowa)