People v. Mejia-Guzman

Judgment unanimously affirmed. Memorandum: Defendant was convicted of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree (Penal Law § 220.21 [1]) and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree (Penal Law § 220.16 [1]). His argument that the police lacked probable cause to stop him and that, therefore, everything obtained thereafter should be suppressed as "fruit of the poisonous tree” is misplaced because it is based upon the erroneous assumption that the initial stop of defendant constituted an arrest. The minimal intrusion of approaching a person to…