Opinion
November 16, 1992
Appeal from the County Court, Rockland County (Kelly, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
Officer Edward Chorba testified that he stopped the vehicle in which the defendant was a passenger because he recognized its distinctive vanity license plates and knew the operator had been issued a summons for driving with a suspended license approximately one week earlier. Under the circumstances, the officer had reasonable suspicion that the driver was operating the vehicle in violation of the Vehicle and Traffic Law (cf., People v Ingle, 36 N.Y.2d 413). There is no basis for concluding, as the defendant argues, that the officers stopped the vehicle for the suspected traffic violation as a mere pretext to investigate unrelated criminal activity (see, People v Pincus, 184 A.D.2d 666; People v Solano, 179 A.D.2d 791; People v Williams, 137 A.D.2d 569). The record also supports the suppression court's finding that one of the police officers observed what appeared to be the handle of a gun protruding from the rear pocket of the defendant's pants after he had exited the car. This justified the pat-down of the defendant and the recovery of the gun and drugs from his person (see, People v Rose, 159 A.D.2d 600). Accordingly, the motion to suppress the physical evidence was properly denied. Sullivan, J.P., Rosenblatt, Miller and Ritter, JJ., concur.