Along with co-defendant Owedia Smith, Terry Leonard McMillan was charged with one count of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. McMillan was also charged with operating a vehicle without proof of insurance. McMillan filed a motion to suppress evidence seized at the scene, which was granted by the trial court.1 The State appeals. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the contraband was seized at a legally authorized roadblock and was inadvertently discovered in plain view during the course of reasonable activities directed toward the safety of the officers on the scene. We therefore reverse. During the hearing on McMillan’s motion to suppress, Edward Pritchett, Jr. testified that while employed as a road patrol officer with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department, with the approval of the supervisor on the scene, he was assisting with a roadblock at a particular intersection at approximately 10:45 p.m. He and at least three other deputies were conducting a license and insurance check. The area was well-lit, at least three marked patrol cars were at the scene, he and the other officers present were in uniform, and all cars approaching the intersection were stopped. Deputy Kevin Farmer, the supervising staff sergeant, confirmed that the purpose of the roadblock was to check licenses and insurance. He testified that no random stops were made.
Pritchett testified that McMillan’s car was stopped at the roadblock, and although McMillan presented his Georgia driver’s license, his insurance card indicated that it had expired 17 days earlier. Pritchett instructed McMillan to park near the intersection so that he could check the car tag and determine whether McMillan was covered by insurance.2 Smith was riding in the front seat. McMillan complied, and while waiting to receive information from dispatch, Pritchett walked over to McMillan’s car to talk with him. As Pritchett did so, he observed that McMillan was acting in a strange manner and appeared to be placing his right hand between the seats. Thinking that McMillan might be concealing a weapon or other contraband, Pritchett pulled out his firearm and ordered McMillan to raise his hands. McMillian did not immediately respond, and when he finally did obey Pritchett’s command, “he kept yelling something about ‘what’s going on, what’s going on.’ ” Pritchett believed he was being threatened and called for another deputy to assist him. Pritchett ordered McMillan to step out of the car, and he and the other deputy initiated a pat down to determine whether he had a weapon.
