Gonzalez

Appellant challenges the denial of his Penal Code section 1538.5 motion to suppress evidence. He was thereafter convicted of two counts of violating Health and Safety Code section 11351 (possession for sale of heroin and cocaine), two counts of violating Health and Safety Code section 11352, subdivision (a) (transportation of cocaine and heroin), and one count of violating Health and Safety Code section 11550 (being under the influence of heroin).

Appellant based his motion to suppress evidence on the events of an August night in 1990. At 10:15 p.m., two uniformed police officers in an unmarked car saw a gold Buick change lanes rapidly without signaling. The officers stopped the car in front of the registration office of a motel. The officers got out of their car and started to approach the Buick. Appellant, the passenger, started to get out of the Buick. One officer commanded him to get back inside the car.

The officer later testified that at that point he had no reason to suspect appellant was involved in any illegal activity. The officer ordered appellant into the car “[f]or the safety of both my partner and I. We didn’t know why he was getting out.” Appellant got…