Judgment of the Supreme Court, New York County (Alvin Schlesinger, J.), rendered March 13, 1991, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him to concurrent terms of 5tá to 11 years, unanimously reversed, on the law, the motion to suppress granted, the possession count dismissed and the matter remanded for a new trial on the sale count.
Just after the defendant was arrested, he was frisked and a purse, described by that arresting officer as "a little change pouch,” was discovered in his pants pocket. The purse was removed from the defendant, opened and found to contain 26 glassine envelopes of heroin. The sole issue upon this appeal is whether the search of the change purse without a warrant was permissible. It is the People’s contention that it was since the search of the purse was within the allowable scope of a search incident to arrest which, of course, may be performed without a warrant. A search incident to arrest, however, may only extend to closed containers within the defendant’s posses
As there was no exigency to justify the challenged warrant-less intrusion, the defendant’s motion to suppress the contraband should have been granted. It follows that the conviction for criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree should be reversed and the corresponding count of the indictment dismissed and that the matter should be remanded for a new trial as to the sale count; the improper receipt of the contraband at defendant’s trial for sale of a single glassine envelope of heroin cannot be deemed non-prejudicial. Concur —Murphy, P. J., Rosenberger, Rubin, Ross and Tom, JJ.