“If you’re from out of state, they’re simply
going to find a reason to pull you over.”
something legally significant there. He
thinks he’s establishing that everything
that happens after the handshake is consensual, because after that, Huff was
technically free to go. But of course he
isn’t free to go.”
If Huff had ignored Reichert’s “Let
me ask you a question real quick,” gotten into his car and driven off, Rekowski
says, there’s no way Reichert would have
let him leave. “And in Illinois, the definition of a detainment is that you aren’t
free to leave.”
Collinsville Police Chief Scott Williams,
who has seen the dash cam video, tells
Huffington: “I don’t have any reason to
doubt the integrity of any of our officers.
But we’ll do our due diligence and look
into that. If we find that any of our officers is taking shortcuts or violating someone’s civil rights, that officer will be fired.”
Huffington was unable to reach
Reichert for comment.
During the questioning, Reichert tries
several times to get Huff to admit to having marijuana in his car, even if only
a small amount for personal use. Huff
says he has none. “I would just like to go
on my way if I could,” he tells Reichert.
Reichert says that he’s going to bring
his K-9 out of the car to do an outside
sweep. Huff objects. Reichert points out
that Huff had a prior arrest for a drug
charge. (Huff did—it was an old misdemeanor charge that was supposed to
have been expunged from his record.)
Reichert pats down both Huff and
Seaton and takes the dog &