NC: Defendant wasn’t stopped, but he was still seized when ordered out at gunpoint without justification

Defendant was not stopped by the police, but he was certainly seized when he was ordered out of the car at gunpoint. Since the officers lacked a sufficient basis for the seizure, suppression should have been granted. State v. Harwood, 2012 N.C. App. LEXIS 812 (July 3, 2012):

As the trial court found in denying Defendant’s suppression motion, the investigating officers, after following Defendant’s vehicle, parked their vehicle directly behind Defendant’s vehicle, drew their firearms, and ordered Defendant and his passenger to exit Defendant’s vehicle. After Defendant got out of his vehicle, Agent McAbee placed Defendant on the ground and handcuffed him, thereby restraining Defendant’s freedom of movement “‘by means of physical force [and] … authority'” and creating a situation in which a reasonable person would not have felt free to terminate the encounter. Brendlin, 551 U.S. at 254, 127 S. Ct. at 2405, 168 L. Ed. 2d at 138 (quoting Bostick, 501 U.S. at 434, 111 S. Ct. at 2386, 115 L. Ed. 2d at 398). Thus, although the officers did not, in fact, initiate a traffic stop, Defendant was “seized” by the agents. As a result, “in order [for the agents] to conduct [such] a warrantless, investigatory stop [of Defendant, they] must have [had] a reasonable and articulable suspicion of criminal activity.” State v. Hughes, 353 N.C. 200, 206-07, 539 S.E.2d 625, 630 (2000) (citation omitted).