Opinion
February 9, 1987
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Sherman, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
A citizen approached the police in a subway station and informed them that the defendant, whom she pointed out, had a gun. Before ascertaining the informant's name and the basis for her information, the police followed the defendant onto the street where, upon sighting the officers, he fled. The officers, who had identified themselves as police, followed the defendant onto a bus where they approached him with their guns drawn. When he reached into his pocket, the officers grabbed him and recovered a gun.
Under the circumstances of this case, the police had a reasonable basis for believing defendant to be armed, and they were justified in approaching him with their guns drawn and in physically seizing him when he reached into his pocket (see, People v. Chestnut, 51 N.Y.2d 14, cert denied 449 U.S. 1018; People v. Finlayson, 76 A.D.2d 670, lv denied 51 N.Y.2d 1011, cert denied 450 U.S. 931). Mollen, P.J., Thompson, Brown and Niehoff, JJ., concur.