People v. GonzalezPeople v. Gonzalez
Police Officer Stephen Smith‘s decision to stop the vehicle in which the defendant was a passenger was justified by his observation that the driver had committed a traffic infraction (see People v Robinson, 97 NY2d 341, 351-353 [2001]; People v Romeo, 15 AD3d 420 [2005]). At the suppression hearing, the defendant failed to carry his burden of establishing his standing to contest the search of the lawfully-stopped vehicle (see People v Tejada, 81 NY2d 861 [1993]; People v Ballard, 16 AD3d 697, 698 [2005]; People v Phillips, 260 AD2d 582, 583 [1999]). In any event, his entirely unprovoked flight, leaving the vehicle and his companions and running off a highway and into the woods, constituted an abandonment of the 11-pound brick of cocaine and other narcotics found in the trunk of the car and undermined any claim to a reasonable expectation of privacy he might otherwise have had (see People v Byrd, 304 AD2d 490 [2003]; People v Perez, 301 AD2d 434, 435 [2003]).
The defendant‘s remaining contentions, including those raised in his supplemental pro se brief, are either unpreserved for appellate review or without merit. Cozier, J.P., Goldstein, Fisher and Dillon, JJ., concur.