People v. Badillo

Full title: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v. JAVIAR BADILLO…

Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department

Date published: May 11, 1998

250 A.D.2d 696 (N.Y. App. Div. 1998)

672 N.Y.S.2d 766

Opinion

May 11, 1998

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Leach, J.).

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The People established that the police had probable cause to arrest the defendant based on the testimony of a backup officer involved in a so-called "buy and bust" operation regarding the contents of radio transmissions he received from an undercover officer ( see, People v. Washington, 87 N.Y.2d 945; People v. Maldonado, 86 N.Y.2d 631; People v. Williams, 205 A.D.2d 567). The undercover officer radioed that he had made a "positive buy", which the backup officer understood to mean the purchase of a controlled substance. The undercover officer transmitted a description of the seller's clothing and stated that the seller was heading towards Wyckoff Avenue on a black and orange bicycle. The defendant, who fit that description, was arrested on Wyckoff Avenue and was identified a few minutes later by the undercover officer as the person who sold him the drugs.

The defendant contends that his arrest was improper because the sergeant who initially detained him did not testify at the hearing and there was no evidence that he had knowledge of the contents of the radio transmissions received by the backup officer. This contention is without merit as the sergeant and the backup officer who received the radio transmissions were working together, they drove to the arrest location in the same vehicle, and they arrested the, defendant together ( see, People v. Mims, 88 N.Y.2d 99, 113-114; People v. Preston, 235 A.D.2d 256). As the People established probable cause for the defendant's arrest, his motion to suppress physical evidence was properly denied.

Bracken, J.P., Copertino, Pizzuto and Altman, JJ., concur.