Judge rules Kansas Highway Patrol ‘waged war on motorists,’ violated constitutional rights

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas Highway Patrol “has waged war on motorists,” a federal judge wrote in a scathing ruling against the agency’s practice of extending car stops in hopes of discovering drugs. In the order filed Friday, U.S. District Judge Kathryn H. Vratil wrote that patrol’s tactics in traffic stops violated the Constitution. The practice, called the “Kansas two step,” is a maneuver in which troopers at the end of a traffic stop take a couple of steps toward their patrol car before turning around to initiate a voluntary interaction with the driver. The strategy would buy the patrol ...