THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Respondent, v JOE COCHRAN, Appellant.
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Second Department
April 7, 2004
804 NYS2d 346
H. Miller, J.P., Adams, Spolzino and Fisher, JJ.
Appeal from County Court, Orange County (DeRosa, J.)
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court, Orange County (DeRosa, J.), rendered April 7, 2004, convicting him of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree, criminal possession of stolen property in the fourth degree, and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third degree, upon his plea of guilty, and imposing sentence. The appeal brings up for review the denial, after a hearing, of that branch of the defendant‘s omnibus motion which was to suppress physical evidence.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
Following the concededly lawful stop of the vehicle by a State Trooper and the defendant‘s arrest for driving with a suspended license, State Troopers properly impounded the vehicle, as there was no other licensed driver present who could take possession of the car (see People v Figueroa, 6 AD3d 720, 722 [2004]). Moreover, the police were under no obligation to offer the defendant an opportunity to make other provision for the care of the vehicle (see Colorado v Bertine, 479 US 367, 373-374 [1987]). The evidence at the suppression hearing was sufficient to establish that the motivation of the State Troopers in conducting the subsequent search was caretaking rather than criminal investigation (cf. People v Acevedo-Sanchez, 212 AD2d 1023 [1995]),
The defendant‘s remaining contentions are without merit.
H. Miller, J.P., Adams, Spolzino and Fisher, JJ., concur.