Opinion
November 14, 1988
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Queens County (Berkowitz, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
The defendant's conviction arises out of an alleged incident of menacing a bus driver with a gun. The police were alerted to the trouble via car radio, and appeared in the vicinity within a few minutes. The police saw the defendant, who fit the description that was given to them, and as a result an officer exited the car and engaged in a "stop and frisk" of the defendant. The defendant objects to the officer's search which turned up a .32 caliber revolver, as well as a substantial quantity of cocaine. We conclude that in light of the circumstances, the police officer acted within the bounds of the law, and both the gun and the cocaine were properly seized (see, People v. De Bour, 40 N.Y.2d 210; People v. Stewart, 41 N.Y.2d 65). The information relayed by the radio broadcast was sufficient to give rise to a "reasonable suspicion" that the defendant had or was about to engage in criminal activity, and that one of the five suspects had a gun. Therefore, the officers acted prudently to insure their own safety (see, People v. Wharton, 60 A.D.2d 291, affd 46 N.Y.2d 924, cert denied 444 U.S. 880; see also, People v. Cherry, 134 A.D.2d 358, lv denied 70 N.Y.2d 954; People v. Sutton, 91 A.D.2d 1051). Furthermore, the cocaine was properly seized during a subsequent search incident to the defendant's lawful arrest. Mangano, J.P., Lawrence, Spatt and Harwood, JJ., concur.