believes that the driver is armed and dangerous. Passengers are seized under the Fourth Amendment once the vehicle they're in, when stopped by the police, comes to a complete stop on the side of the road, and therefore have standing to challenge the constitutionality of the traffic stop. The Court disagreed with the state appeals court's characterization of Johnson's encounter with the police as consensual. It quoted the dissenting state appellate court judge, who noted that the pat down occurred shortly after the car had been stopped, and that Johnson would not reasonably have felt he was free to leave at the time of the pat down. The Court observed that a seizure occurs when the police stop a car for a traffic violation, and the seizure continues and is usually reasonable until the police inform the car's occupants that they're free to leave. In addition, questioning by the police about a matter unrelated to the traffic stop does not make the stop unlawful, as long as those inquiries do not measurably extend the duration of the stop. Here, the traffic stop communicated to Johnson that he was not free to leave, and nothing prior to the pat down indicated otherwise. The police were not required to give Johnson the opportunity to leave without ensuring that he was not armed and dangerous. The judgment of the Arizona Court of Appeals was reversed, and the case was remanded for further proceedings. See also Michigan v. Long (1983) References External links United States Supreme Court cases 2009 in United States case law 2009 in Arizona Legal history of Arizona Search and seizure case law United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court History of Tucson, Arizona