Opinion ID: 2211374
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendant's Encounter with TRIP

Text: In June 1996, Louis Escano, owner and driver of a livery cab, enrolled in TRIP. Around 3:40 P.M. on July 19, 1996, in response to a radio call, Escano picked defendant up in Manhattan. Over the course of the next several hours, as instructed by defendant, Escano stopped at several locations for short intervals, during which defendant left and returned to the vehicle. At about 8:00 P.M., while it was still light outside, Officer James McSwigin, who was on patrol in an unmarked police car with two other plainclothes officers, saw a TRIP decal on Escano's vehicle, and briefly activated a siren and flashing lights. After signaling the car to stop, McSwigin observed defendant, in the right rear passenger seat, look over his shoulder and then gesture as if to direct Escano to continue on. The officer re-activated his siren and followed the car until it stopped. As McSwigin exited his vehicle, he observed defendant lean toward the floor of the car and bend down. Defendant then sat up and threw something onto the front seat, which led McSwigin to suspect that defendant had a weapon. Concerned for his safety, McSwigin opened the cab's left rear passenger door, in order to have an unobstructed view of defendant. On the left-hand rear passenger side of the car, in the direction defendant had leaned, the officer saw an open black nylon bag that contained a greenish plastic wrapped around part of a brick, which he recognized as a way of packaging cocaine. He signaled to his partner, positioned at the opposite passenger door, who asked defendant to step out of the vehicle. As he was leaving the car, defendant volunteered, it's not mine and it's not my coke. Charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees, defendant challenged the stop; the seizure of the black nylon bag containing 10 kilograms of cocaine, and a paper bag found in the front seat of the cab containing $9,284 in cash; the voluntariness of his statements to the police; and his arrest. Following a Mapp-Huntley hearing, the court found TRIP constitutional, Escano's participation voluntary, the opening of the passenger door supported by reasonable suspicion, the drugs in plain view, defendant's statements spontaneous and voluntary, and the arrest supported by probable cause (171 Misc 2d 744). Defendant then pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree, and was sentenced to a term of 81/3 years to life. The Appellate Division affirmed (279 AD2d 399), and a Judge of this Court granted leave to appeal.