Summary
In People v Stewart, 174 AD2d 769 (2nd Dept. 1991), the defendant's decision to discard a gun during an unlawful police pursuit was found to be "an independent act involving a calculated risk" but the facts of the "brief chase" in Stewart were not discussed. The Court in Stewart, cited People v Martin, 140 AD2d 632 (2nd Dept. 1988) and People v Williams, 137 AD2d 568 (2nd Dept. 1988), two other cases in which defendants discarding guns during unlawful police pursuits were found to have taken calculated risks.
Summary of this case from People v. CadleOpinion
June 24, 1991
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Kings County (Lipp, J.).
Ordered that the order is reversed, on the law, that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress physical evidence is denied, the indictment is reinstated, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Kings County, for further proceedings consistent herewith.
The defendant fled when two police officers in plainclothes approached him for an investigatory inquiry. During the pursuit, the defendant dropped a gun to the ground and continued running. He was captured after a brief chase, and the gun was recovered.
We concur with the suppression court's determination that the evidence adduced at the hearing established that the police were not justified in pursuing the defendant. The facts which prompted the initial police inquiry, even when coupled with the defendant's flight, were insufficient to establish that the officers had a reasonable suspicion that the defendant had committed or was about to commit a crime (see, People v Leung, 68 N.Y.2d 734; People v Howard, 50 N.Y.2d 583, cert denied 449 U.S. 1023). Nevertheless, we find that the court erred in ruling that the gun was inadmissible at trial. The defendant's decision to discard the gun during the pursuit was not a spontaneous reaction to the police action, but was an independent act involving a calculated risk (see, People v Boodle, 47 N.Y.2d 398, cert denied 444 U.S. 969; People v Martin, 140 A.D.2d 632; People v Williams, 137 A.D.2d 568).
We note that we have decided this case based on New York State decisional law and have not relied on California v Hodari D. (499 US ___ [Apr. 23, 1991]). Rosenblatt, J.P., Miller, O'Brien and Ritter, JJ., concur.