Opinion
September 12, 1994
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Kings County (Lipp, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
The police received descriptions of two robbers, one wearing a purple Los Angeles Lakers T-shirt and shorts and the other wearing green shorts and a green shirt made of a leather-like material. Upon seeing two men, the defendant and an unknown companion, who matched the descriptions of the two suspects, the police possessed the necessary reasonable suspicion to justify stopping the defendant (see, People v. De Bour, 40 N.Y.2d 210, 223; People v. Thorne, 184 A.D.2d 797). However, even if the police did not possess the necessary reasonable suspicion, they clearly had a founded suspicion that criminal activity was afoot justifying the common-law right of inquiry, which ripened into reasonable suspicion when the defendant fled upon the approach of the police (see, People v. De Bour, supra; People v. Leung, 68 N.Y.2d 734; People v. Jackson, 172 A.D.2d 561). The fact that there is a four-inch discrepancy between the description of the defendant's actual height that was broadcast to police and the defendant's actual height does not change this result (see, e.g., People v. Fernandez, 58 N.Y.2d 791).
We have examined the defendant's remaining contentions and find them to be without merit. Bracken, J.P., Sullivan, Lawrence and Pizzuto, JJ., concur.