People v. Wiggins

216 A.D.2d 150, 628 N.Y.S.2d 282, 1995 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6591

Opinion

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Frederic S. Berman, J.), rendered March 2, 1994, convicting defendant, after a guilty plea, of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second violent felony offender, to a prison term of 21/2 to 5 years, unanimously affirmed.

New York City Police Officers patrolling a drug prone neighborhood known for violent taxicab robberies properly approached defendant to request information (see, People v De Bour, 40 NY2d 210), after they observed defendant repeatedly grasping an object that formed a waistline bulge in his pants. Defendant’s response to the officer’s question that he was going to purchase marijuana, formed a predicate for a Terry stop. (See, People v Hollman, 79 NY2d 181.) Defendant’s flight, before the officers exited their vehicle, formed the necessary predicate to pursue him. (See, People v Sierra, 83 NY2d 928, 929; see also, People v Martinez, 80 NY2d 444.) Defendant’s abandonment of a .357 magnum as he fled was a calculated independent act to discard the weapon and thus he lacks standing to contest seizure of the property since he abandoned it. (See, People v Boodle, 47 NY2d 398, 402, cert denied 444 US 969.) Concur— Sullivan, J. P., Rubin, Asch and Williams, JJ.