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has 24 years of experience in law enforcement, the bulk of which was as a patrol officer
for the Granite City (Illinois) Police Department. Hoelscher has been a TFO for four and
a half years and served as a police officer with the O’Fallon (Illinois) Police Department
prior to being deputized as a DEA TFO.
On August 26, 2011, Officer Thebeau was driving a white Ford Expedition and
had parked the vehicle in the highway median near the 24-mile marker of I-70, facing
east, from which vantage point Thebeau and Hoelscher could watch both eastbound
and westbound traffic. Thebeau saw a blue 2006 Peterbilt tractor-trailer about a quarter
of a mile to the east of his spot. The Peterbilt was headed westbound, appearing to
travel the speed limit. At some point shortly thereafter, the officers pulled out and
began driving the same direction.
Meanwhile, in the 2006 Peterbilt, Randy Davis had heard radio chatter indicating
that an “SUV cop” was “on the roll” and “wanted to get by.” Davis activated his turn
signal to move his rig to the right. The truck to his right opened a gap allowing Davis
to move into the lane to his right. Davis slid his Peterbilt into the space between the
other vehicles and continued driving.
Both Thebeau and Hoelscher observed that the blue Peterbilt was following quite
closely behind another Peterbilt tractor-trailer in the driving or slow lane. The officers
made this determination visually and using the “three-second rule” (a standard they
typically used when gauging whether a vehicle was traveling at a safe distance behind
other vehicles). As Thebeau described it, he picked a fixed point, watched the blue
Peterbilt pass that point, and counted using 1000s (i.e., one-thousand-one, one-
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