Perhaps not, but by not pushing the issue he lets the .gov claim he was.
Pay attention to what the cop very carefully says, on camera.
"I'm only giving you a warning "
I'd like you to get ot of the car"
Come talk with me while I write your warning"
These are all carefully constructed phrases so that when played in court the police can claim he was not investigating yet.
Even when the deputy brought up the dog the first time. "We have a K9 pretty close, I'm going to have him come do a walk around, that way it'll be quicker"
Cops practice active voice statements that sound like a directive, while not actually being one. They know that most people aren't going to be super assertive with an armed authority figure.
Would this deputy have backed down if challenged, or ramped up? We'll never know, because the victim never tried to assert his rights.
Even if the cop was going to escalate, the victim would have been better off making the cop explicitly detain him as early as possible. The timer on "can not detain you for longer than needed for the traffic stop" has a hard start when they stop you from leaving.
I'm pretty sure if the cop has your driver's license, you are detained until he gives it back. (press the issue by asking for it back so you can leave; that will definitely start the clock) By getting in the car, the cop can say that
the motorist was the one who prolonged the stop by engaging in conversation.
IMHO, there were
really searching for guns or cash (both perfectly legal to have in your can in Texas) so they could steal them via civil forfeiture. They would take a big drug bust if they stumbled into one, but that was not the point, there's not much profit in it.
