Opinion
February 26, 1990
Appeal from the County Court, Westchester County (Martin, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
We conclude that suppression of testimony by the complainant regarding the showup identification conducted at the hospital where he was being treated for stab wounds suffered in the course of the commission of the crime of which the defendant stands convicted was properly denied. The police officers, who did not know the extent or seriousness of the complainant's injuries, were justified in conducting a showup at the hospital a short time after the crime occurred in the interest of obtaining a prompt and reliable identification and securing the release of a possibly innocent suspect (see, e.g., People v McLamb, 140 A.D.2d 717; People v Castillo, 123 A.D.2d 878; cf., People v Rivera, 22 N.Y.2d 453, cert denied 395 U.S. 964; People v Soto, 87 A.D.2d 618). Nor do we find under the circumstances that the display to the complainant of the defendant while handcuffed and in the company of a police officer renders the showup identification constitutionally infirm (see, People v Capehart, 151 A.D.2d 592; People v Andre A., 146 A.D.2d 704; People v Dennis, 125 A.D.2d 325). Mollen, P.J., Thompson, Rubin and Eiber, JJ., concur.