Opinion
December 27, 1993
Appeal from the County Court, Nassau County (Thorp, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
The defendant was stopped by the police for failing to signal when entering a lane of traffic, a violation of Vehicle and Traffic Law § 1163 (a). After the stop, the police found 81 vials of crack cocaine in the defendant's vehicle and marihuana on the defendant's person.
The defendant contends that the police used the traffic violation as a mere pretext to investigate allegations that the defendant was a drug dealer. He claims that he should not have been stopped, and the fruits of the stop, to wit, the drugs found in his vehicle and his statement to the effect that he did not signal because he was eating, should have been suppressed.
In reviewing suppression issues, great weight must be accorded to the determination of the hearing court, with its particular advantages of having seen and heard the witnesses. Its determination should not be disturbed unless it is clearly unsupported by the record (see, People v Prochilo, 41 N.Y.2d 759; People v Horn, 196 A.D.2d 886). In the instant case, the record supports the hearing court's conclusion that the police lawfully stopped the defendant because he had committed a traffic violation (see, People v Foster, 173 A.D.2d 841).
We have examined the defendant's remaining contentions and find them to be without merit. Mangano, P.J., Sullivan, Miller and Pizzuto, JJ., concur.