Opinion
2694.
Decided January 15, 2004.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Dorothy Cropper, J.), rendered October 25, 2001, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 4½ to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.
Thomas P. Abt, for Respondent.
Ellen Dillie, for Defendant-Appellant.
Before: Tom, J.P., Williams, Marlow, Gonzalez, JJ.
The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. The police officer's observation of defendant walking in a drug-prone neighborhood with a companion who was openly sniffing a bag of marijuana, provided the officer with a founded suspicion that criminal activity was afoot and justified a common-law inquiry of defendant as to whether he had any contraband Defendant was not merely in proximity to unlawful activity, but was clearly accompanying a person who was engaged in such activity ( see People v. Curry, 213 A.D.2d 664, lv denied 85 N.Y.2d 971; compare People v. Leveridge, 204 A.D.2d 246, lv denied 84 N.Y.2d 828).
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.