People v. Starr
| Decision Date | 13 November 1995 |
| Citation | 221 A.D.2d 488,634 N.Y.S.2d 132 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. Shariff STARR, Appellant. |
| Court | New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division |
Daniel L. Greenberg, New York City (David E. Loftis, of counsel), for appellant.
Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn (Roseann B. MacKechnie and Camille O'Hara Gillespie, of counsel; Jacqueline M. Linares, on the brief), for respondent.
Before SULLIVAN, J.P., and THOMPSON, HART and GOLDSTEIN, JJ.
MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Demarest, J.), rendered March 1, 1994, convicting him of criminal trespass in the second 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 identification testimony.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
Contrary to the defendant's contention, the police had probable cause to arrest the defendant. Probable cause requires the existence of facts and circumstances which, when viewed in their totality, would lead a reasonable person possessing the same expertise as the arresting officer to conclude that an offense or crime has been or is being committed and that the person to be arrested is the perpetrator (see, People v. Fernandez, 185 A.D.2d 944, 586 N.Y.S.2d 654; People v. De Bour, 40 N.Y.2d 210, 386 N.Y.S.2d 375, 352 N.E.2d 562). One of several police officers who responded to a radio report of a burglary in progress observed the defendant exit a sixth-floor window onto a fire escape and proceed up to the roof. Minutes later, after the defendant was detained by fellow police officers, both the officer who had observed the defendant flee to the roof and a complaining witness from another apartment who had confronted and struggled with the defendant in his apartment identified the defendant as the culprit they had separately seen. The eyewitness victim of a crime can provide probable cause for the arrest of the perpetrator of a crime against him (see, People v. Griffin, 161 A.D.2d 799, 800, 556 N.Y.S.2d 131). We conclude that under these circumstances, there existed probable cause to arrest the defendant. Accordingly, the hearing court properly denied the branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress the identification testimony of the witness and the police officer, since they were not the fruits of an illegal arrest (see, People v. De Bour, 40 N.Y.2d 210, supra, at 223, 386 N.Y.S.2d 375, 352 N.E.2d 562; People v. Johnson, 209 A.D.2d 434, 435, 618 N.Y.S.2d 460). We note, with reference to the defendant being detained by police officers other than the officer who saw him exit a sixth-floor window, that this court has adopted a circumscribed version of...
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