People v. Williams , 992 N.Y.S.2d 438 ( 2014 )

People v Williams (2014 NY Slip Op 06338)

People v Williams

2014 NY Slip Op 06338

Decided on September 24, 2014

Appellate Division, Second Department

Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431.

This opinion is uncorrected and subject to revision before publication in the Official Reports.

Decided on September 24, 2014SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORKAppellate Division, Second Judicial Department
THOMAS A. DICKERSON, J.P.
CHERYL E. CHAMBERS
LEONARD B. AUSTIN
SANDRA L. SGROI, JJ.

2012-09686
(Ind. No. 2040/11)

[*1]The People of the State of New York, appellant,

v

Charles Williams, respondent.

Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, N.Y. (John M. Castellano, Edward D. Saslaw, and Robert Masters of counsel), for appellant.

Lynn W. L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (Allegra Glashausser of counsel), for respondent.

DECISION & ORDER

Appeal by the People from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Paynter, J.), dated September 7, 2012, as, after a hearing, granted that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress physical evidence.

ORDERED that the order is reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law, and that branch of the defendant's omnibus motion which was to suppress physical evidence is denied.

The evidence admitted at the suppression hearing established that police officers had a founded suspicion that the defendant was engaged in criminal activity, warranting a common-law right of inquiry, which, because of the defendant's flight, escalated into reasonable suspicion to pursue (see People v Sierra, 83 NY2d 928, 929; People v Riley, 290 AD2d 568, 569). Since the pursuit of the defendant was justified, the gun he discarded during the pursuit was not subject to suppression as the product of unlawful police conduct (see People v Britt, 67 AD3d 1023, 1024; People v Riley, 290 AD2d at 569).

DICKERSON, J.P., CHAMBERS, AUSTIN and SGROI, JJ., concur.

ENTER: Aprilanne Agostino Clerk of the Court