People v. West (208 A.D.2d 363, 1994)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard B. Lowe, III, J.), rendered November 14, 1991, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree, and sentencing him to a term of 4 years to life, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant’s flight from a moving, erratically driven cab, in an area with a high incidence of taxicab robberies, gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that defendant had just committed a taxicab robbery justifying the police pursuit (People v Martinez, 80 NY2d 444, 446; People v Matienzo, 81 NY2d 778). The circumstances here justified the officer’s limited search of defendant’s pockets (People v Benjamin, 51 NY2d 267, 271). Concur—Rosenberger, J. P., Wallach, Asch and Tom, JJ.