NC G.S. 14-223 Example Case

In State v. Lynch, 94 N.C. App. 330, 380 S.E.2d 397 (1989), plain-clothed officers who were on patrol in an unmarked police car observed the defendant on a street corner around 5:30 p.m. and "mistakenly believed" that the defendant was a person for whom they "had warrants to arrest . . . for sale or delivery of cocaine." Lynch, 94 N.C. App. at 330-31, 380 S.E.2d at 397. Shortly thereafter, the officers stopped a vehicle that the defendant had entered and one of the officers "approached the car, identified himself as a police officer, and asked defendant to identify himself. Defendant did not respond, jumped out of the car, and attempted to flee. However, the officers apprehended defendant and, after a brief struggle, took him into custody," "initially arresting him for resisting public officers." See id. at 331, 380 S.E.2d at 397. The Court determined that, since the officers had "a reasonable basis to stop the defendant and require him to identify himself" to ascertain whether he was the named subject in their arrest warrants, "the officers were lawfully discharging a duty of their office." See id. at 333, 380 S.E.2d at 399. Accordingly, based on the evidence of the defendant's flight from a lawful investigatory stop and his brief struggle after his arrest, the Court sustained defendant's conviction under N.C.G.S. 14-223. See id. at 334, 380 S.E.2d at 399.