People v. Brown
| Decision Date | 14 September 1992 |
| Citation | 186 A.D.2d 142,587 N.Y.S.2d 725 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. Philip A. BROWN, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Sheryl P. Lerner, Jericho, for appellant.
Denis Dillon, Dist. Atty., Mineola (Peter A. Weinstein and Bruce E. Whitney, of counsel), for respondent.
Before BRACKEN, J.P., and SULLIVAN, HARWOOD and LAWRENCE, JJ.
MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Nassau County (Mackston, J.), rendered December 19, 1990, convicting him of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence. The appeal brings up for review the denial, after a hearing, of that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress physical evidence.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
We reject the defendant's contention that the police lacked probable cause to arrest him. Police Officer LoPiccolo testified at the suppression hearing that he observed the defendant in a high-crime area display a small plastic bag to a woman and tell her "it costs you five dollars". Officer LoPiccolo radioed this information to his partner, who was in a patrol car one block away. As the patrol car slowly drove towards the defendant with its siren and lights off, the defendant dropped the bag on the ground, turned, and started walking away. Officer LoPiccolo recovered the bag and found a vial containing a substance he recognized as crack cocaine. The defendant was then arrested and six vials of crack cocaine were found in his pocket.
The discarding of the bag was not in response to any unlawful conduct by the police officers (see, People v. McCants, infra; People v. Williams, 123 A.D.2d 652, 506 N.Y.S.2d 917). By dropping the plastic bag and walking away, the defendant abandoned it (see, People v. McCants, 175 A.D.2d 847, 573 N.Y.S.2d 317; People v. Thomas, 161 A.D.2d 1167, 555 N.Y.S.2d 961; People v. Kosciusko, 149 A.D.2d 620, 540 N.Y.S.2d 289). After he recovered the bag and found that it contained a vial of crack cocaine, Officer LoPiccolo plainly had probable cause to arrest the defendant (see, People v. Green, 168 A.D.2d 457, 562 N.Y.S.2d 576; People v. McLeod, 161 A.D.2d 671, 555 N.Y.S.2d 445).
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution (see, People v. Contes, 60 N.Y.2d 620, 467 N.Y.S.2d 349, 454 N.E.2d 932), we find that it was legally sufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intended to sell the vials of crack cocaine. Any inconsistencies in Officer...
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