If he really wanted the plans he could have got them with the Force. The scene is totally dumb.
That’s assuming he knew one of the soldiers had the plans.
Could have been done very differently. All the set up of the scene is problematic. Like Leia and the Tantive IV being there the entire space battle… in a ship that was collapsing ! Leia could have been far away while receiving the transmission from the “sinking” ship, not directly within the sinking ship ! Also it would have been more consistent with the opening of ANH.