The court "Ordered that the judgment is reversed, on the law, those branches of the defendant's omnibus motion which were to suppress physical evidence, identification testimony, and statements made to law enforcement officials are granted, the indictment is dismissed, and the matter is remitted to the Supreme Court, Queens County, for further proceedings consistent with CPL 160.50."

Defendant’s claim that the appellate court erred by denying his motion to suppress evidence since police officers lacked reasonable suspicion to stop the vehicle based on an anonymous tip about a man with a gun was meritorious because the individual who reported a man with a gun neither explained how he knew about the gun nor supplied any basis for believing he had inside information about the defendant and the report did not show that the tipster had knowledge of concealed criminal activity.

It is fundamental that in order to stop a vehicle the police must have a reasonable suspicion, based on objective evidence, that the occupants were involved in a felony or misdemeanor. Reasonable suspicion has been defined as that quantum of knowledge sufficient to induce an ordinarily prudent and cautious person under the circumstances to believe criminal activity is at hand. Where an anonymous phone tip giving a general description and location of a man with a gun is the sole predicate, it will generate only a belief that criminal activity is afoot, and will not of itself constitute reasonable suspicion thereby warranting a stop and frisk of anyone who happens to fit that description. Unlike a tip from a known informant whose reputation can be assessed and who can be held responsible if her or his allegations turn out to be fabricated, an anonymous tip alone seldom demonstrates the informant's basis of knowledge or veracity. However, there are situations in which an anonymous tip, suitably corroborated, exhibits sufficient indicia of reliability to provide reasonable suspicion to make the investigatory stop. Further, reasonable suspicion requires that a tip be reliable in its assertion of illegality, not just in its tendency to identify a determinate person.