Opinion
November 16, 1987
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Kings County (Miller, J.).
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
After being informed by the complainant that she had followed the men who had robbed her to a nearby apartment building, the arresting officers entered and found three men on the steps in the vestibule. After placing the men against the wall, the complainant, on her own initiative, entered the building and identified 2 of the 3 men as her assailants. A frisk of the defendant and his codefendant and a search of a bag which was situated next to the defendant revealed eight live rounds of ammunition and a gun.
Probable cause for the defendant's arrest was readily established by the complainant's description of the perpetrators and her pursuit of them to a nearby building where she identified them as her assailants (see, CPL 140.10; People v. Hairston, 117 A.D.2d 618, lv denied 67 N.Y.2d 884; People v. Irving, 107 A.D.2d 944). Moreover, a warrant was not required to effectuate the arrest of the defendant in the vestibule of the apartment building whose front doors were broken (see, People v. Johnson, 114 Misc.2d 578, affd 126 A.D.2d 993, lv denied 69 N.Y.2d 951).
Having been informed that the suspects were armed, the officers justifiably feared for their safety and properly frisked the defendant and searched the bag which was within his grabbable area and which easily could have concealed a weapon (cf., People v. Russ, 61 N.Y.2d 693; People v. Smith, 59 N.Y.2d 454; People v. Joyner, 109 A.D.2d 753; People v. Tratch, 104 A.D.2d 503). In any event, the search of the bag was incident to the defendant's lawful arrest (People v. Weintraub, 35 N.Y.2d 351).
The showup identification of the defendant was accidental and was untainted by any "untoward police conduct" (People v Gonzalez, 46 N.Y.2d 1011; People v. Bookhart, 117 A.D.2d 739).
Upon the exercise of our factual review power, we find that the evidence established the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and that the verdict was not against the weight of the evidence (CPL 470.15). Mollen, P.J., Brown, Rubin and Spatt, JJ., concur.