The Toledo, Ohio Police Department was on the lookout for a blue car with a license plate number beginning with the letters QP as the car was identified by a witness in the armed robbery of a local McDonald's. A few days later, Officer Drayton and his partner spotted a blue car with a license plate number that they thought began with QP. Drayton pulled the car over. In the front seat were Gerald, the driver, and Howard, the passenger. Officer Drayton asked Gerald to exit the vehicle and asked him if he had anything to do with the McDonald's robbery. Gerald responded that he knew nothing about it, but Drayton was not convinced. Accordingly, he drew his weapon and demanded that Gerald exit his vehicle, put his hands on the front hood of the car, and spread his hands and feet as far apart as possible. His partner then approached Gerald, handcuffed him, patted him down, and took his wallet out of his back pants pocket to check his identification. By this time other police cars had arrived. Another officer looked inside the passenger glove compartment. Although no weapons were found on Gerald, a few small bags of cocaine were discovered in his wallet. Additionally, a bag of marijuana was found on top of some papers in the glove compartment. It was shortly thereafter determined that neither Gerald nor Howard had anything to do with the robbery. Nevertheless, they were each arrested for possession of illegal substances. At trial, Gerald moves to suppress the cocaine as evidence against him. Both Gerald and Howard move to suppress the marijuana as evidence.

Discuss the level of justification that the government needed for each of its actions and determine if the defendants will be successful in their motions to suppress the evidence. Discuss fully. How would your answer change, if at all, if the car in which the defendants were stopped was black rather than blue and the license plate number began with OR, rather than QP. Explain