Opinion
January 21, 1993
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Renee A. White, J.).
At approximately 2:45 P.M., on April 24, 1990, an undercover officer, as part of a buy and bust operation, approached defendant and purchased two vials of heroin with prerecorded buy money. The undercover officer returned to his car and radioed the location of the transaction and a description of the defendant. The nature of the crime itself was not transmitted. Within minutes the defendant, fitting the description and observed with additional glassine envelopes in her hands, was immediately arrested and, again within minutes, a confirmatory identification was made by the undercover officer as he passed the site.
In the context of a "buy and bust" operation, an officer has probable cause to arrest a defendant where he relies "on information from another officer on the narcotics team who had personally witnessed the defendant commit the crime prior to the radio transmission." (People v. Petralia, 62 N.Y.2d 47, 51-52, cert denied 469 U.S. 852; People v. Williams, 146 A.D.2d 724, lv denied 73 N.Y.2d 984.)
The confirmatory identification was "the ordinary and proper completion of an integral police procedure," and in the circumstances obviated the need for a Wade hearing (People v Wharton, 74 N.Y.2d 921, 922-923).
Concur — Sullivan, J.P., Carro, Kupferman and Rubin, JJ.