PEOPLE v. PRIDGEN (2004)

Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Dorothy Cropper, J.), rendered October 25, 2001, convicting defendant, upon his plea of guilty, of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to a term of 4 1/212 to 9 years, unanimously affirmed.

The court properly denied defendant's suppression motion.   The police officer's observation of defendant walking in a drug-prone neighborhood with a companion who was openly sniffing a bag of marijuana, provided the officer with a founded suspicion that criminal activity was afoot and justified a common-law inquiry of defendant as to whether he had any contraband.   Defendant was not merely in proximity to unlawful activity, but was clearly accompanying a person who was engaged in such activity (see People v. Curry, 213 A.D.2d 664, 624 N.Y.S.2d 234, lv. denied 85 N.Y.2d 971, 629 N.Y.S.2d 731, 653 N.E.2d 627;  compare People v. Leveridge, 204 A.D.2d 246, 612 N.Y.S.2d 568, lv. denied 84 N.Y.2d 828, 617 N.Y.S.2d 149, 641 N.E.2d 170).