Opinion
2014-09-24
The PEOPLE, etc., appellant, v. Charles WILLIAMS, respondent.
Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, N.Y. (John M. Castellano, Edward D. Saslaw, and Robert Masters of counsel), for appellant. Lynn W.L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (Allegra Glashausser of counsel), for respondent.
Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, N.Y. (John M. Castellano, Edward D. Saslaw, and Robert Masters of counsel), for appellant. Lynn W.L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (Allegra Glashausser of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal by the People from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Paynter, J.), dated September 7, 2012, as, after a hearing, granted that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress physical evidence.
ORDERED that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, and that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress physical evidence is denied.
The evidence admitted at the suppression hearing established that police officers had a founded suspicion that the defendant was engaged in criminal activity, warranting a common-law right of inquiry, which, because of the defendant's flight, escalated into reasonable suspicion to pursue ( see People v. Sierra, 83 N.Y.2d 928, 929, 615 N.Y.S.2d 310, 638 N.E.2d 955; People v. Riley, 290 A.D.2d 568, 569, 737 N.Y.S.2d 110). Since the pursuit of the defendant was justified, the gun he discarded during the pursuit was not subject to suppression as the product of unlawful police conduct ( see People v. Britt, 67 A.D.3d 1023, 1024, 888 N.Y.S.2d 761; People v. Riley, 290 A.D.2d at 569, 737 N.Y.S.2d 110). DICKERSON, J.P., CHAMBERS, AUSTIN and SGROI, JJ., concur.