State v. Wilson: Was the Defendant Seized When He Stopped Upon the Officer's Signal?

Joshua Wilson had just pulled his truck out of the driveway of a residence in Burlington when he saw a police car parked in the road in front of him. A uniformed officer had gotten out of the car and was walking toward the residence. When the officer saw Wilson, he waived his hands back and forth in the air to tell Wilson to stop his car. Wilson stopped. The officer approached the truck on the driver’s side. The window was down, and he smelled the odor of alcohol. Wilson was arrested shortly thereafter for driving while impaired. The question on appeal was whether he was seized by the officer when he stopped his truck. The answer. The court of appeals in State v. Wilson, __ N.C. App. ___ (December 6, 2016), held that Wilson was not seized under the Fourth Amendment when he stopped. Thus, the appellate court concluded that the trial court did not err in refusing to suppress the evidence obtained from the officer’s encounter with Wilson. Judge Dillon dissented, reasoning that Wilson was seized, but that the case should be remanded for more findings on whether the seizure, which was not supported by reasonable suspicion, was nevertheless constitutionally reasonable. Facts and procedural history. The officer who encountered Wilson had gone to the Burlington residence to look for a man who had outstanding warrants for his arrest. The officer had received an anonymous tip that the man would be at the residence. The officer did not suspect that [...]